april (calendar girl #4) -...

April:CalendarGirl

Book4

ByAudreyCarlan

Text copyright © 2015AudreyCarlan

ISBNElectronic

ISBN-10:0-9909143-9-9ISBN-13:978-0-9909143-9-6AllRightsReservedNo part of this bookmay bereproduced, scanned ordistributed in any printed orelectronic format without

expressed permission by theauthor.Editing: Red Quill Editing,LLCSenior Editor - EkaterinaSayanovaEditor-RebeccaCarteewww.redquillingediting.netCoverDesign:TibbsDesignGraphics Designer - ValerieTibbswww.tibbsdesign.com

Dedication

AnitaScottShofner

Mia’sjourneyinBostonisforyoumysweet.

LikeMia,yourecentlystartedover.

I’mproudofyou…forchoosingyou.

Ithinkeverypersoninthis

worldneedstochoosethemselvesonce

andawhile.Icannotbegintothankyou,Notonlyforbeingan

incrediblebeta,whichyouare,

Butalsoforbeingalovelyandsupportivefriend.

Namastemyfriend.

Chapter1

“Well, hey there, sweetthang,” were the first wordsout of his sexy assedmouth.Too bad the words, alongwith the way his eyes tracedovermesentmy temperaturerising…and not in a goodway. Mason Murphy leanedagainstalimo.Hehadaviatorsunglasses, coppery brownhair, and a smirk that

probablymeltedpantiesofallhisbaseball fans.Fortunatelyfor me, I’d been aroundseveral hotter than hot menthe last few months andwasn’timpressed.

I held out my hand. Hepursed his lips, pushed hisglasses on top of his head,gracing me with stunninggreen eyes. They were asdark as emeralds and just aspretty.

“What,nokiss?”

I narrowed my brows,cockedahip,andcrossedmyarms over one another.“Seriously? You’re goingwiththat?”

His head shot back andhe pulled his glasses off hishead than proceeded todangle theendofoneside inhis mouth. Again, he lookedme up and down. “Feisty. I

like a girl that’s a bit of achallenge.”

Iclosedmyeyesblinkedseveral times to see if I wasstillasleepfromtheBenadrylI’dtakenontheplane.Flyingalways made me jittery.Nothing like what I wasfeeling right now though.“You’re a realpieceofworkaren’tyou?”

His eyes opened wide

andahugegrinslippedacrosshisdistractinglywell-sculptedface. High cheekbones, alittle dent at the chin andthose sparkling eyes lookedwicked.

He moved close to me,hunganarmaroundmyneck,and kissed the side of mytemple. It took everything Ihadnot to turnandplantoneonhim…apunchtotheface,thatis.

“You’regoingtoremoveyour arm from me and backaway. Have you nomanners?”

Mason planted his feetin front of me and leanedclose as if to whisper. “Iknow what you are and I’mtotally okay with it. Very,very okay with it. We’regoing to have some funtogether.”

I pushed his chestenough togethimoutofmyface.“Look,Mr.Murphy…”

“Mr. Murphy,” he said,mockingly.“Ooh,Ilikethat.”

Sucking in a breath, Iclenched down on my teeth.If I bit my tongue, I mighthave bitten it straight in halfwith how much this guyirritatedme.

“What I was trying to

saybeforeyouinterruptedmewas that you’ve got thewrong ideaaboutme. I’manescort.Meaning, Iescortyouto things. Provide you withcompanionship in a friendlymanner.”

Again he got close,grabbed my hips, andslammed themagainsthis. “Ican’t wait to get morefriendlywithyou,”herubbedhis pelvis against mine. I

could just barely feel theoutline of something comingtolife.

I sighed.Letting it go, Ipushedhimawayagain.“Justtakemybags.”

He whistled at thedriver. Yes, whistled at him.Like a fucking dog. Hemayas well have said, “Comehere boy, good driver.” Icringed and removed myself

fromhisgrasp.

“Don’t worry, baby,you’ll get into the swing ofthings,” he mock swung abaseball bat. I, on the otherhand, rolled my eyes andopened the limo doorcrawling in. He maneuveredhis long body into thespacious vehicle and clappedhishands.“Wantadrink?”

I’m pretty sure I looked

athimasifhe’dgrownatail.“It’snotevennoon.”

He shrugged. “It issomewhere in theworld,” hesaid with a saucy wink.Mason pulled out a bottle ofchampagne.His tonguecameout and wet his full bottomlip. The space between mylegs took notice instantly,twingingdelightfully.Ishookmyheadandcrossedmylegs.He was a bastard, yet I

couldn’t help but notice thathe was a good-looking one.Mason Murphy was tall,probablysixfeetorso,hadabody that could gracemagazinesanddid,often.Themuscles in his biceps bulgeddelectably and his quadsflexedasheshovedthebottlebetween his legs and twistedthe top off with a plop. Nofoam. Pretty good, I’d givehimthat.

“Now sweetness, let’sgetacouplethingsstraight.”

I openedmy eyeswide,my eyebrows going straightinto my hairline. He handedme a glass of champagne.Eventhoughitwasbarelytenin the morning, I took theglass figuring I’d needsomething to take the edgeoffmyannoyance.

“You were sent here to

bemygirlfriend.Thatmeans,in order to have my fans,prospectivesponsors,and themediaat largebelieveit,youandIaregoingtohavetogetfriendly, very quickly. Andlooking at you…” he lickedhis lips again as his eyestraced my form from mybooted feet up my jean cladlegs and stopped directly atmybosom.Pig.“I’mgoingtoenjoy every fucking secondofit.”

Thisguywasgoingtobechallenging. He was smug,sexyashell,irritating,sexyashell,downrightcrass,sexyashell, and immature. Did Iforget anything? Oh yeah,sexyashell.

He leaned back,displaying his body for meagainst the opposite seat. Hesmirked and downed thechampagne in one go. Iwasn’t about to let this

schmuck best me so I liftedthe glass to my lips andswallowedtheentirelotback.His eyebrows lifted and hiseyessparkledinappreciation.

“Woman after my ownheart,” he clutched at hischestinmockchivalry.

I leaned over, grabbedthebottle,andfilledmyglassthengesturedwith a chin liftforhis.Hepresented it and I

filledittoo.

“Okay, lookwe need tofirmupafewthings.”

His facemade a gesturethat indicated that he wasabout to crack a joke, but Icut his words with a pair ofgreendaggersinhisdirection.Heleanedbackandliftedhischin.

I smiledknowing Iwonthatround.“Imayhavebeen

hiredtobeyourgirlfriendforthe month, but I’m not yourwhore.” His eyebrows drewtogether. “Having sexwith aclient is optional on my partand not part of my contract.Youshouldhavereadthefineprint, buddy because you’reabout to find out what amonthofcelibacylookslike.”

His mouth droppedopen, shock the prevailingresponse. “You’re fucking

kidding?”hesmirked.

Ishookmyhead.“’Fraidnot.Soyoumightwanttogetused to that there handbecause you’re going to beusing a lot of it. If the presssees you outside, trollingalongwithanyharlotyoucanget to give you a secondglance, they’ll know this,” Ipointed a finger between thetwoofus,“isashamandtheeffort and the hundred

thousandyou’vepaidmewillbe wasted.” Mason ruffled ahandthroughhishair.“Italsowouldn’t look so good toyour prospective sponsorsthatyoucan’tevenholdontoyourprettynewgirlfriendforlongerthanaday.Remember,myfeeisnon-refundable.”

At this point I leanedback, crossed my legs overone another, and sipped mychampagne, letting the bitter

bubbles dance along mytongue,awakeningmysensesoncemore.

Mason looked atme, anunidentifiable expression onhis handsome face. “Thenwhat do you propose we dosweetness?” He grinned, hiseyes glancing along my legsand up over my chest tofinally land onmy face. Thewords were nice but lackedsincerity.

“First, you stop callingmesweetness.”

He jumped in before Icould continue. “Shouldn’t amanhaveanickname forhisgirl?”

I pinched my lipstogether to think about it. Isupposed he was right.“Perhaps,ifthewayyousaiditdidn’tsoundsodouchey.”

Mason tipped his head

backand laughed.Thesoundreverberated through the carand lightened the mood. If Icould hear that laugh everyday, maybe this monthwouldn’t suck.He licked hislips and again, that sensitivespacebetweenmythighsthatstill hadn’t forgotten howgood it was to have aman’sperfect pout all over thetender flesh thrummed inresponse. Down, girl! Iwanted tochastisemy libido.

Ever sincemy fuck-festwithWes two weeks ago, I’vebeen needy, horny as hell,with no hope for relief. Andnow thatmycurrent client isdefinitely off the list ofprospective bedmates, itlooked like I’dbeattemptingcelibacy right alongside him.Fun…not.

“Look,Iguessit’sfine.Ithink the next step would beto learn a little more about

one another. Tell me aboutyourself?”

Hecurledahandaroundone of his big, jean-cladknees and looked out thewindow. “Not much to tell.Came from an Irish family.Dadworksasagarbagemaneven though I told him hecould quit working for therestofhislife.Hewon’t.Tooproud.”

“Sounds like a goodman.”Unlikemyownfather.Well, technically that’s nottrue. He tried. Under thecircumstances, after handlingtheblowofmymomleaving,he losthisway. I’mnot sureanyone truly knows how tohandlelosingtheloveoftheirlife.

Masonsmiled, revealingwhite teeth mostly straight.His eyetooth crooked in just

enough to give his smilecharacter.“Mydad’sthebest,still a hardass. Works toohard though. Always did,providing for me and mybrothers.”

“Howmany brothers doyou have?” I asked actuallyfinding this line ofconversationinteresting.

Heheldup threefingersas he sipped his champagne

thistime.“Mybrothersareallcrazy bastards but I love‘em,” he said, his Bostonianaccentpoppingtothesurface.Sexy fucking accents.Damn,itwould be hard to keepmyhandsoffhimifhewasgoingtoturnnice.

His eyes narrowed onme, the green turning dark.“They’llfuckin’lovethatI’mshacking up with such a hotpiece of ass.” And then the

douchecanoe comes to lifeonce again. I shookmyheadandtookaslow,deepbreath.

“Okay, three brothers.Younger,older?”

“Allyounger.Braydenistwenty one, Conner isnineteen, and my babybrother Shaun is seventeenandstillinhighschool.”

I leanedforwardandsetmy empty glass into the

holder.“Wow,fourboys.”

Mason nodded. “Yeah,Braydenbartendsandgoestocommunitycollegeduringtheday.Got a chick knocked upright out of high school.” Icringed. “Bitch left the kidwith him and ran off.” Mymouth dropped open and Igasped.Howcould awomanabandon her own flesh andblood?Thenagain,Momdidthe same thing. Still, hearing

it happened to some otherchild boils my blood. “SoBray lives with Dad and hisdaughterEleanor.”

Eleanor. “That’s an old-fashionedname,”Ioffered.

He smiled and lookedout the window wistfully.“Yeah,itwasafterourmom.”

“Are your parentsseparated?”

He shook his head.“Nah, Mom died ten yearsback. Breast cancer took heryoung. So it’s just been usguysforalongtime.”

I leaned forward andplacedmy hand on his knee.“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t havepried.”

Withaflickofhishand,hebrushedoffthegesture.“Itwas a long time ago. No

matter. Then Connor isattending Boston U, andShaun has his hands inteenagesnatchallday.”

Scowling,Igroan.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I left out thepart about any grown manreferring to a woman’sprivates as a “snatch” in thecompany of a female lackedmaturity since that was a

losing battle. “So what adsandsponsorsareyouupfor?”

***

When we arrived at his“pad” as he called it, I wassurprised to be met by apretty,waiflikeblonde.Iwasnot a small woman, moreaverage for early twenties,butthischickwasmodelthin.Only she looked like

Corporate Barbie, all blondegolden hair pulled back in atwist,sparklingskyblueeyes,aperfectlypinkpout,tall,androckingasuitthatfitherthinframe to perfection. It spokeof money andprofessionalism, both ofwhich went against the wayshelookedatMason.

“Um,Mr.Murphy,” thewomanpointedafingerupashe brushed past her and into

the building. Her lips turnedinto an instant pout when hepassed by her without somuchasaglance.

I stopped on the step infront of the woman. Whenshe finally stopped watchingMason’sassasherummagedaround in the entryway, hereyes flashed to mine. Igrinned. “Hey rudeness, thepretty blonde in a suit wastryingtogetyourattention,”I

called to Mason whilekeeping my eyes on her.“And you forgot to get mybags.” I shook my head andmumbled asshole under mybreath.

“Excuseme,”shedippedhereartowardme.

I shook my head andheld out my hand. “MiaSaunders, I’m Mason’sgirlfriend.”

The blonde womanclosed her eyes and took abreath, seeming to stealherself against something. “Iknow who you are Mia; wesuggested he hire you. I’mRachel Denton, his publicrelations representative. I’vebeen assigned to work withthetwoofyouonfoolingthepublic. Usually, his publicistwould work with him, but Ioffered to help,” she bit herlipandlookedaway.

“Well, then we’ll getthrough this together Iassume. He’s a real acharacter,” I smiled just asMasonshowedupatthedoor.

“Getlost,hotstuff?”Hiseyes were laughing, but hiswords grated. I rolled myeyes and grabbed Rachel’sshoulder and brought her tomyside.

Mason seemed to notice

her for the first time andwhenIsaynoticeher,Imeanhelookedherupanddown…twice. “Rachel,what are youdoing here? I thought Valwouldbeworkingthisjob?”

She shook her head andblushed. Interesting. “No,Val’sreallybusysecuringthesponsors and ad lineups foryou to interview with. Ioffered,” she preened as hecontinuedtoeye-fuckher.

“Can’t say that I’mgoingtomissVal,”hesaidina way that actually didn’tsound condescending orskeevy. Also interesting.Rachel giggled, yes giggled.His eyes seemed to softenwhen he looked at Rachel’sfacehe thenopened thedoorwide for the both of us toenter.

“Um,slacker,thebags?”Inoddedtothecar.

“Oh right,” he stopped,lookedatRachelthenbackedup,knockedintothedoorthathadn’t latched properly andgrinned. “I’ll just uh, get thebags.”

I stared as the over-confident, womanizer,douchecanoe fumbled overhimselfwhileinthepresenceof his PR chick who wasn’tdoingmuchbetterhidingherowninterest.Rachel’scheeks

werearosyredandher teethwere permanently biting intoherbottomlip.

I flicked a thumb overmy shoulder. “You intohim?”Iasked.

She nodded mutely andthen her eyes widenedsuddenly. “No! What? Umyou have the wrongimpression. I merely have aprofessional relationshipwith

Mr.Murphy.”She endedherverbal diatribe with a firmcrossing of her arms andmightypursingofherlips.

Snorting, failing athidingmylaughterundermybreath, I moved into thehouse. “Whatever you say.”I’dhavetodig into thatabitmorelater,justforthehellofit. If I wasn’t going to begetting any on this trip, theleast I could do was have a

littlefun.

Masondumped thebagsin the foyer and ushered usinto the living quarters. Theroomwasalongrectangleaswould make sense for astandard brownstone inBoston with multiple levelsgoing up and possibly onegoingdown.Ilookedforwardtohavingthegrandtour.

In the center of the

living room was a black,leather sectional. Oppositethe sectional was at least asixty plus inch flat screentelevision hanging on thewall. There was baseballparaphernalia here and there.Some framed jerseys and aline of signed baseballs satover the mantle. Each waswithin its own protectivesquare glass or plastic case.Proved he took care of thethings he cherished. Maybe

there were two sides toMason Murphy. If I had tospend a month pretending tobehisgirlfriend,Isureashellhopedtherewas.

“So what brings youhere, Rach?” He asked, hisbody turned completelytowards her, even though itdidn’t need to be. Rach. Hername was shortened. Whenpeople shortened other’sname, it connoted familiarity

orasmallintimacy.

Shecrossedherlegs,herskirt riding up her thigh.Mason zeroed in on themovement,hiseyesfollowingthe small slip of fabric. Isnickered, but neither oneheard me or was payingattentiontothefactthatIwasevenintheroom.

“I just wanted to makesure that you both were

briefed for tomorrow. It willbe your first publicappearanceasa,”sheclearedher throat and pushed a longstrand of blonde hair behindherear.Itdidn’tstay,slippingdelicately down her jawlineonce more. Again, Mason’seyes were riveted to her, tothat piece of hair as if hewantedtotouchit,betheoneto push it back, caress herskin. His hands gripped intothe meat of his thighs. “As

uh, a couple,” she finished.“You’ll need tomake it lookrealistic. Hand holding whenoutside of the stands, smalltouches, smiling…erm,” sheclearedherthroatandwincedas if it pained her to finish.“Kissing, that kind of thing.Do you have any problemswiththat,Ms.Saunders?”sheasked.

I looked at her withwidened eyes. “Do you have

a problem with it?” I asked,honesttoGodnotbelievingIwas watching these two. Itwas obvious to me and I’dseenthemtogetherforatotalof ten minutes, that theywantedoneanother.Whatthehell was keeping them frommovingonit?

Rachel’s head slammedback as if punched. “Excuseme?” she clutched her chestand gasped. “Why would I

haveaproblemwithit?”

“Really?” I shook myhead.

“What Mia is probablytryingtoaskiswhetherornotus having public displays ofaffection will be a problemwith the sponsors or theagency?”

No,thatisnotatallwhatMia was suggesting. Whatplanet did I land on when I

gotoffthatplane?Werethesetwo for real? I sighed anddecided it was best to playalonguntilIfiguredoutwhatwasgoingon.“Yeah,whathesaid.”

Rachel’s lips twitchedandthetensionseemedtoebbout of her shoulders. It waslike watching a morningglory close up for theevening. Slowly relaxing,curling its petals inward to

rest until the morning sunbroughtitbackupagain,orinthis case, a nosey escortoriginally from Vegas withvery little filter. “The teamhasspentlonghoursplanningthis. We understand it’s anunconventionalapproach,butMr. Murphy has notpresented the public with anidolpeoplelookupto.Alongwith some other things, he’llneed to change the frequentbar brawls, excessive

drinking, even theoccasionalcigaretteisano-go.Theteambelieves that the horde ofwomen he’s paraded aroundall last season, never beingseen with the same womantwice did very little to helphis image. We’re committedto turning that around andyou’restepone.”

Finally, I chanced aglance atMason.His elbowswere on his knees and his

head was in his hands. Adefeated posture if I’d everseen one. I got up and satright next to him placing ahandonhisbackthenrubbingup and down. He turned hishead toward me. “Man, I’vefuckedup.”

“Weallfuckup.Atleastyou’ve hired Rachel, andyour publicist thinks you’reworthy of turning it allaround.” I continued to

smooth a hand up and downhisstrongbackuntilheliftedhis head. He adjusted hisshoulders, pushing themback,leadingwithhischest.

“Okay, so you wantPDA?” he asked Rachel andshenodded.

“You got it.” He turnedtomewithafierceexpressionanda laser focus tohisgaze.“Let’s do this.” Then his

hands were clasping the sideofmyheadandhis lipswereon mine. I gasped, openingmy mouth by accident.Instead, he took it as aninvitation. Initially, it wasn’tone, but then the taste ofchampagne still lingered onhis tongueashe flickedovermine, and I hadn’t beenkissed in what felt likeforever, but was really onlytwoweeks. Couple that withthe yummy cologne that

wafted over his body and Iwas gone. Lost to his kiss.His tongue dipped in,demanding yet playful. Ilicked back, leaned forward,clasped the front of his shirt,and held him in place whileslanting my head for more.More of his kiss, more ofhim.Fuck.Thiswasnotpartoftheplan.

When we finally pulledaway, both of us were

panting,gaspingforbreath.

“Howwas that?”Masonturned around to whereRachel was sitting, but shewas gone. I could hear herheels clicking on the tile.“Rachel?”hecalledout.

“See you tomorrow.Great job!” she called outthrough the house twoseconds before the doorslammedshut.

Mason slumped againstthebackof the couch. “Fuckme.”

I shook my head andleaned back. “Not gonnahappen.”Hechuckled.“Whatwasthat?”

“That was me kissing aseriously hot escort.” Hiseyes glinted with a hint oflust,butIknewbetter.Itwasbodymechanics.Surehewas

drop dead gorgeous, and Ican’t say that kissing himdidn’t getmy juices flowing,but attraction and genuineinterest are two totallydifferentthings.

“Youlikeher,”Iofferedhimanolivebranch.

Hislipspinchedtogetherand he closed his eyes. “Ofcourse Ido.She’sniceand Ipay them well. We’re all

happy.What’snottolike?”

“That not what I meanandyouknowit.”

“Look, I don’t knowabout you, but I’m hungryand you need to get settled.There’s a bunch of shit, inbags, that Rachel or Valpurchasedaspartofthedeal.Ididn’tputitaway;Ijustsetitonthebed.Pizzaokay?”

He stood quickly and

startedtowalkawayandthenmusthavethoughtbetterofit.He turned and offered hishand. “Thanks for taking thejob,”hesaidashepulledmetomyfeet.“Yourroomisthefirstdooron the right,unlessyou want to share mine,” hewaggled his eyebrows andthrust his hips. I blew out afast breath and shook myhead.AsIstartedwalking,hesmackedmehardontheass.

“That’samightyfineassyagotthere,Mia.”

I stopped, cocked a hip,and put my hand on it. “Ifyou want to keep that hand,you’llkeepitoffmyass.”

He backed away withtwo hands up. “Okay, okay,justgettingalittlepracticeinfor tomorrow’s game. Noharm,nofoul,right?”

“Save it for the game.

You’re going to need it.” Isauntered to the stairsthinking I’d gotten the lastword when I heard himrespondjustasIgottothetopofthestairs.

“Honey,don’tyouknowIalwaysplaytowin?”

Ohbrother.

Chapter2

The moment a girl likeme finds bliss in clothing, itshould be treated like anational holiday, highlighted,and circled on the calendarwith agiant redSharpiepen.Tugging on a sleek new pairof True Religion jeans,followedbya tight,RedSoxt-shirt, had me wanting tobowdowntoAuntMillie for

scoring me this gig. I wasspending a month with afamousbaseballpitcher.Sure,he was rough around theedges, immature, and neededaspanking…andnotthegoodkind,butyoucouldn’t beat ajob where you got to rockjeansandt-shirts.Islippedonapairofredconverseandjustaboutmelted.

Ilookedatmyselfinthemirror, sliding a hand over

my rounded ass. Yep, stilllooking pretty tight. I hadn’tput on any weight since thisstarted;Iwasstillagoodsizeeight, but felt tight where Ineeded and soft where Iwanted. The overall pictureseemed to be booking megigs,andIwasgettingcloserand closer to paying offBlaine.Fourpaymentsdown,six to go. If I booked everymonth, I could leave this lifebefore the holidays. Though

who am I kidding? I wasmaking a hundred grand amonth, sometimes with anadditional twenty thousand.Whygiveitup?

As I pulled my longblackwavesintocutepigtails,anotherthingIfoundoutmenlikeMasondigon,andplaceda baseball cap on my head,my thoughts trailed to Wes.Out of anyone, he’s the onethingI’dliketopursue.When

we’re together, it’severything.Apart,Ifindittooeasytocomeupwithreasonsthatwe’renotmeant tobeorthat our connection isn’t asstrongas Iwanted to think itwas. Basically, I figured outthat I was really good atprotecting my heart, but Imissed him. It had been acoupleweeks.Wouldn’t hurttoreachout…

I pulled out my phone

anddialedhisnumber.Itranga few times before a femalevoice I didn’t recognizeanswered. “Hello,” shegiggled.

“Um, Hi, I think I mayhavegotthewrongnumber.”

Shelaughed,andIcouldhear feet slapping noisilyagainst wood floors.Booming laughter rang outwhich I knew for a fact

belongedtoWes.

“Are you calling forWeston?” shecooedand thatsultry sound of her voicetinged the recesses of mymemory. I knew that voice.Closing my eyes, I took adeep breath. Gina DeLuca,one of the most beautiful,sought after, Hollywoodstarletsalive.Thewomanwascurrently playing the lead inWes’smovieHonorCode.

More rustling camethroughtheline.“Gina…girl,you are so going to get it!”Weston’svoicewasroughyetplayful. “Come here, sexy,”Wessaidbreathily,obviouslychasingafterher.

“Sorry to cut you off,butWeswillhavetocallyouback. He’s very busy,” shesquealed.

“Gotcha!” I heard Wes

sayandthentheunmistakablesound of kissing noisesfollowed by a female throatymoan.“Getoffthephone,”hegrowled and she mewled,obviously not payingattention to the phone. Ajagged edged knife dug deepintomyheart,but, evenwiththefierypain,Icouldn’thangup.Iwasgluedtothespot,anonlookerstaringinaweatthesiteofacaraccident,onlybyphone. I had absolutely no

right to be hurt, none at all,butitdidn’tchangethefacts.I felt gutted listening toWescarryonwithanotherwoman.

Is this what he feltknowingIwasgoingtoanewman every month? Probablynot anymore if the noises ofwet lips meeting flesh wereanyindication.

“It’s your phone! Notmine. Some chick. Here.” I

heard her say and then timestopped.Myheartbeat likeaheavy drum almost countingthe mere seconds before herealizedwhocalledandwhatI’dheard.

“Fuck.” I heard himcurse as the phone probablychangedhands.

“What’s the matterbaby? Okay, youwin. Comeback to bed.” Her voice was

distant as if she was gettingfarther away and riddled inapology.

A groan split the spacebetween us. “Mia,” his voicewas a pained rumble in myear. “I’m sorry, that, uh, thatshouldn’thavehappened.”

Ishookmyhead,buthecouldn’tseeme.Tearspooledat the surface but there wasnoway Iwasgoing to allow

themtofall.IfIdid,I’dbeapile ofmush on the bed andincapable of pulling off thehappy, pretend girlfriend tohot shot Red Sox pitcherMasonMurphy.“Hey,no,it’sokay. I just uh, called to sayhi.So,hi.”

“Hi,” he respondedsadly. “Fuck,Mia. It’s not…um, technically, it’s just.Jesus Christ!” I could hear adoor shut in the background

and birds chirping in thedistance. He was probablylooking out over Malibu asfar as the eye could see. If Iwere there, I’d be holdinghim around the waist anddoingthesame.Notnow.No,nowhe’sgotGina todo thatforhim.“Thisdoesn’tchangeanything,”hechokedout.

I snorted. “Really? Itchangeseverything.”

His voice was a growlwhen he responded. “Howso?We’restillfriends.”

“That’s true. We arefriends.”

“And this thing withGina, it’s totally casual, youknow,we’re lettingoff somesteam.SheknowsI’mnottherelationship type. Well, atleastnotforher.”

“Soyouareforme?”

Heletoutaslowbreath.“IfIanswerthathonestlyareyou going to do somethingabout it? I’ve given you thatchance more than once.You’venottakenit.Webothagreed to take this year. Areyourenegingonthatnow?”

A traitorous tear slippeddown my cheek. Fuckinghormones.“No,I’mnotWes.I just,” I let out a breath. “IguessIjustdidn’texpectyou

tomoveon.”

“WhatmakesyouthinkIhave?FuckingGina?Tellmeyou and Frenchie didn’tspend a month fucking afteryouleftme?”

“Wes,” Iwarned andhecutmeoff.

“It’s true. This is nodifferent. We’re not togetherofficially, but you know I’ddrop anything and anyone to

bewith you, but as cliché asit sounds…a man has needstoo. I think it’s best we notdiscussthose.”

Ibitdownonmylipandsat on the bed. “No, you’reright.It’sincrediblyunfairforme to have any claim overyou when I’m not willing togivethesame,but,Wes,”myvoice broke and I couldn’tfinish.

“Sweetheart tell me…please fuck, Mia. I’ll doanythingtostayinyourheart.Nothinghaschanged.”

Hesaysthat,butit’snottrue. It’s like starting overagain, my heart locked uptight in Pandora’s little box.“Just, I don’t want to loseyou.”

“Mia, you’re alwaysgoingtobeonmymind,and

when you’re ready for moreandthisthingbetweenusgetsa real chance…we’ll dealwithit.Youandme.”

“Yeah okay. Just onething,Wes.”

“Anythingsweetheart.”

“Remember me.” I saidand hung up and powereddown my phone. There wasabsolutelynowayIcouldtalktohimforonemoresecond.I

hadajobtodoandneededtoputallmybaggageinitscasein the closet so that I couldfocus.

Mason Murphy, youbetter watch out. You’reabout to get one helluvashow.

***

Instantly,Iwasassaulted

by the scents of hotdogs,popcorn, beer, and the ballfield. For a girl likeme, thiswasasclosetoHeavenasI’dever been. Mason held myhand and ledme through theunderground tunnels of theballpark. It was almostimpossible to play the cool-card when he walked methroughthelockerroom.Yes,thefuckinglockerroom.Halfnaked, and some completelynakeddrool-worthymenwere

standing around shooting theshit, preparing for the game.If I was a different girl, I’dhave covered my eyes or atthe very least tried to playmodest.Nope.Notthisgirl.Iogled like a pervy pubescentteen watching the older sexyneighbor girl changingclothes with a pair ofbinoculars through a set ofblinds.

“Hey,Junior,Iwantyou

to meet my girlfriend,”Mason said to JuniorGonzalez,thestartingcatcherfortheBostonRedSox.Ihada small fan-girl momentsqueezingMason’s rockhardbiceplikeIwasringingwaterout of a towel trying to keepmy cool.He placed his handover mine and patted it,lookeddownatmeandgaveme a wink. “Buddy, I thinkyou’vegotafan.”

The Hispanic man wasbig and muscular. The pantshe was wearing stretchedover tree-trunk sized thighssending a wild flutter to thesensitive space between mylegs. Junior’s hair was thick,black, and cropped short ontop. His eyes were achocolate brown, a starkcontrast to the white of hissmiling grin and mochacolored skin. “Hey, Mama,what’s shakin’?” he waggled

hiseyebrows,andIswooned.Straight up leaned intoMason’s side and sighed.Theyboth laughed,but I juststaredinperfectsilenceatthemagnificence thatwas JuniorGonzalez. Best catcherknown to baseball and onebeefcakepieceofperfectionIcallman.

“You’re amazing,” Ifinally stuttered. He lookedmeupanddownthenglanced

overathisfriend.

“You’re not so badyourself. You want to skipright on over this schmuckand hang with a real man,sweetheart?”hejoked.Iknewhe was teasing, because hedidn’t make a move orgesture to bringme closer tohim.Masonlaughed.

I shook my head butwanted to do the opposite.

Junior Gonzalez would be anice distraction from myconversation and feelingsover a certain blond hairedmovie-making surfer whowas currently fucking agoddesswithabodythatmenwouldfallontoaswordfor.

“Mace tells me you’reuh, with us for the month?”His voice dropped and hetilted his head, thosechocolate eyes sharing the

knowledgeofmy truereasonforbeinghere.

“Yep,allmonthlong.”Ismacked Mason’s chest thenrubbed it, pretending to beplayful but really wasanythingbut.

Hewincedandrubbedatthe spot. “Easy there, tiger. Iswear, the hottest chick theyhad at the escort service asluck would have it, isn’t an

easy lay.” I wanted to himagainathearingthosewords.

Junior closed his eyes,dropped his head, and shookit from left to right. “Man,when are you ever going tolearn you can’t treat a ladylike a piece of ass?Girl,” heemphasizedtheword,“Ihopeyouteachthisboyalesson.”

I winked and pushedMason to move on. “I plan

to.”

“Shee-it,” Juniorsnickered and turned away.“Good luck.You’re going toneedit.”

“Lady Luck has neverworked for me in the past. Ican’t imagine she willmagicallystartnow,”I threwovermyshoulder.

Mason scoffed. “Whoneeds luck when she’s got

me?”

“Come on, honey, showme to my seat.” I said thissaccharine sweet whilerubbing along his side. Helooped an arm across myshoulder and kissed mytemple.

***

There is an interesting

thing about baseball most ofthe general public doesn’tknow about. A secret eliteclique called the WAGs.Whichstandsfor“WivesandGirlfriends.” Since we wererunning a tad behind,Masondroppedme off at theWAGsection and bailed, putting awad of twenties inmy hand.Nothing says whore likedropping a handful ofJackson’s in her palm. Justfor that, he wasn’t getting a

penny back. I planned onburning all two hundredbucks on beer, brats, andtrinkets.

I foundmy seat and satdown carefully, not wantingto bump into the gaggle ofgeese that were chatting amile aminute.Even so, theymadenobonesaboutlookingme over. Each chick wasaround my age, some a fewyearsolderoryoungerbutno

morethanafivetosevenyeargapbetweenus.

“Hey,” I waved to theline.Fourheadsswungtome.“I’mMia,”Itriedthefriendlyapproach.

Onegirl,whoIassumedto be the ringleader, leanedforward.“YouMace’sgirlforthenight?”

My eyebrows narrowed.“Um, no I’ll bewith him all

month.IflewinfromVegas.We’re old friends butworkingonmore.Thismonthwill let us knowwhether wecangolongtermornot.”

A blonde sitting twoseats over choked back alaugh.“Longterm?”

The brunette ringleadertwisted her lips. “We’venever seen Mace in arelationship before. You

know, he’s been the type togotherouteofthethreeF’s.”She picked at her fingernailand then looked my waybored. “You know, finger‘em, fuck ‘em, and flick ‘emoff.”

“Wow.Well,that’sgottasuck for the bitches he’sfucked in the past.” I saidnonchalantly, not letting herjabwin.

A sweet-lookingstrawberry blonde with herhair in an adorable ponytailput her hand on my knee“Don’t listen to her. Shedoesn’t know Mace. I knowhim pretty well, and I havefaith he can be committed totherightgirl.I’msureyou’reprobablyher.”Her smileandvoice reminded me of anangel. Kind pretty browneyes.

Iheldoutmyhand.“I’mMiaSaunders.”

She took my hand andshook it. “Kristine but youcan call me Kris. I’m withJunior,” her cheeks instantlyturned a rosy pink. “We’veonly been dating for threemonths, but I’m head overheels for him.” She claspedherhandstogetheronher lapand smiled shyly. “That’swhy I know Mace. They’re

likebrothers.Well,exceptforMace’s other brothers andJunior’sclan.”

I laughed. “Junior has alotoffamily.”

“A lot doesn’t begin todescribe it. Junior is one ofninesiblings.”

“Wow,” I offered thensaw a food vendor comingourway.“Hey,overhere.I’mstarved. Brat and a beer?” I

asked.

Kris’s entire face lit upas if the sun had just shineddirectly on her. I could seetheappealforJunior.Shewasangelic and sweet. “Sure,thank you. That’s so nice.See, guys, Mia’s not ahoochie, she’s cool,” shenotedtotheothergirlsinoursection.

“Jury’s still out.” The

brunette said to the twowomenonherleft.

I shrugged. “Whatever,I’m not here for them. I’mhere to see my man kicksome ass on the ball field.Between him pitching andJuniorcatching…wegot this.Am I right?” I said to Kris,holding out my hand. Shesmackeditandwhooped.

“Hey,myguykillsiton

first!”saidoneofthewomen.“I’mChrissybytheway,”thesexyredheadadded.

“Good to meet ya,Chrissy.”

“And I’m Morgan!” Alovely light-brownhaired galadded. The brunettegrumbled, but obviously sawshe was in a losing battle. IwaswinningovertheWAGs.“This is Sarah,” Morgan

hooked a thumb to her side.“She’spissybecausesheandherguy,Brett,hadatiffoveragroupielastnight.Heplayssecondbase.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’reguy,he’shot.Icouldseehowgroupieswouldwanttobealloverhim.”

Her bravado slippedaway and her shouldersslumped. “This stupid skank

had the nerve to come overand sit in his lapwhen I leftto go to the bathroom. Hedidn’t do anything…well,much.Heplayed around likeitwasall funandgamesandheld her hips andeverything!”Shescowledandthen letoutascreechysoundlikeananimaldying.

Apparently, connectingwithawomanwaseasierthanIthought.IonlyhadGinand

Maddy,butmychickarsenalwas growing. I now addedJennifer back inMalibuwhowas happily pregnant and ofcourse Tony’s sister, Angiewho was also happilypregnant, but this type ofexperience was new. Seems,if you talked shit about yourman,youwereallofasuddenin the clique.Hmmm. I tooknoteof this strangebehavior,let her complain, bitch, andthen cry about howmuch of

an asshole her guy was. Bythe end of the first inning, Iwas her new best friend. Iplied themallwithbeersandbrats with my free twohundredbucksandpurchasedmyselfabigredfoamfinger!It was an awesome finger. Iwas taking this sucker withmewherever I went. I lovedit.

Onthefirststrikeoutofthe second inning, I jumped

up and shouted at the top ofmy lungs with my foamfinger. “Mason, you goBABY! That’smyman overthere. Mason Murphy,striking ‘em out left andright,” I roared. And that’swhen I heard the clicking.Several photographers hadtheir big black cameraspointing in my direction.Show time. I blew kisses toMason, and at one point, hetook off his cap and put it

overhisheartthenputitbackon and struck out the nextplayer.Hadtoadmit,wewerealreadygoodatthis.

During the 7th inningstretch, Mason went back tothe dugout only a few rowsdown from where I sat. TheWAGsgotdamngoodseats.Iclomped my way down towherethedugoutwasjustoutof reach. Mason rose up ononeof thewoodensides,and

leaned over the railing. Heclasped me around the neckand looked over at thecameras. He grinned andcrushed his lips over mine.Again, he was a damn goodkisser.Wemadeitlookgoodfor the photographers, but inall honesty, there was noexcitement, no twinge ofheat, no wetting of thepanties, just a nice kiss to ahotguy.

WhenIpulledaway,hiseyebrows narrowed. “This isdoingfuckingnothingforyouhuh? Way to wound a man,sweetness,”hepurredintomyear and then pulled back, hisgreen eyes focused on mine.Theyweren’tthegreeneyesIwanted to be drowning inrightnow.

I smiled wide, drapedmy hands over his broadshoulders, and clung to his

neck.Thenheflippedmyhatbackward, and I leanedagainst his forehead. “I’msorry.It’sjustIkeepthinkingaboutRachel.”Whichwasn’talltogethertrue.IwassadfortheshyblondewhoobviouslylustedafterMason,and therewas definitely somethingbetweenthetwoofthem,butmostly I was heartbrokenoverWes.

Mason cupped the nape

of my neck, kissed myforehead, and pulled back.With a wink and smirk, hesaid,“Don’tthinkabouther.Idon’t.” His tone was full ofbravadoand lacked sincerity.“Later,sweetness.”Iwatchedhim go, pretending to pineaftermyhotbaseballstarandusually,Iwould.ButIwasn’tfeeling like myself. Eversince hearingGinaDeLuca’svoice on the other end ofWes’sphone,I’dlostapiece

ofmyself.ThedriveIusuallyhadbustlingunderthesurfacehad fizzled to a dull ping,pushing me through themotionsofmyjob.

Itwasunfair,completelyridiculous, to assume he’dwaitformeespeciallywhileIwas fucking whomever Iwanted to. For me, though,whenhecame toChicagoonthat whim, something hadchanged, and I thought

perhapsIcouldwait for him.Sex was sex. I liked sex,every red-blooded Americanwoman did. Sex with Westhough was more than anexperience. It was lifechanging. Alec was amazingin bed; it was fun, sensual,exotic,andgreatatthetime.Ienjoyed my time with himimmensely, butmy emotionsweren’t involved the waythey were with Wes, and Ifeared that even though he

said things with Gina werecausal that she’d learnquickly what a catch he wasand ultimately, I’d come outtheloser.Iguessitwasinmycards.DoingwhatIhadtodofor my family had to takepriority.

In the meantime, I’dfocus on the job and maybemake someone else’s lifebetter. Starting with Mason.He wasn’t a lost cause. I

couldseeagentlemanhidingunder all that swagger. Lifehad taught him to live in thepresent,andthemoneybeingthrown at him hadn’t taughthim a thing about how torespectthepeopleinhislife.Iwondered if he was trulyhappy. He couldn’t be if hehad to hire an escort topretend to be his steadygirlfriend.Imean,therewasahorde of women screaminghis name, begging for his

attention.Ineededtofindoutmore about young Mason.What made him tick, whatmade him the womanizerhe’d been or, perhaps,pretendedtobe?Eitherway,Iwashereforthebetterpartofa month, and I wasn’t goingto squander that time awaycrying in my beer. No, I’dspend it slugging that beerback with a hot baseballplayer and his sexy as hellbaseballfriends.

Gameon!

Chapter3

Week one of pretendingto be Mason “Mace”Murphy’s girlfriend hadendedupbeingablast. I feltlike I was on vacation allweek. I went to four homegames, three of which theywon, and I gotta admit thatbeing the girlfriend of awinning baseball player wasawesome! We partied like it

was 1999, only this time, allthe reportsofMasonshowedhimhangingalloverthesamegirl, namely me, neversmoking, and keeping hisdrinking under control. Nosloppy drunkard pictures forthepressthistime.Hewasonhis best behavior, and itshowedwithallthesmutragspromotingthegoodnews,yetstillspeculatingwhenhewasgoing to fall off his pedestalandbethebadboytheyknew

him to be. Well, they couldjust keep waiting because itwasn’t going to happen onmywatch.

Over the past week, I’dalsohadsome time to reflectonmyfeelingsoverWesandGina which I lovingly nowrefer to as “Wesina” just tokeep the fire in my bellyburning.Itwasn’tfair,butI’dbeen avoiding Wes’s callsandtexts.I’dreceiveonecall

andonetextperdaysincelastweek when I found out hewas banging perfectHollywood hottie GinaDeLuca.IknewifIwantedtostay closewithWes, even asfriends, I needed to respond.That’s why when a textbuzzed through from Wes, Ididn’t immediately ignore itordeleteit.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanning

Was thinking about youwhile on location. Thisremindedmeofyou.Italwayswill.Pleasetalktome.

Under his text was apicture of a beautiful ocean.In the sand was a singlesurfboard. Man, I missedsurfing. By the time I gotbacktoCalifornia,Iwouldbeso out of practice, that he’dneed to reteach me. Thatthoughtmademesnicker.

Without thinking toomuch about it, I shot off atext.

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersThat view looks like

Heaven. Catch a few wavesformewillya?Imisssurfingwithyou.

Before I could put myphone inmypurse, it dingedwithanincomingmessage.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningShe lives! Damn

sweetheart. You had meworried you’d never talk tomeagain.Gladthat’snotthecase.Howareyou?

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersBaseball, beer, brats,

Boston…couldn’tbebetter.

To:MiaSaunders

From:WesChanningSounds like a dream

come true for you. Whatabout all the other letters ofthealphabet?

I rolled my eyes andbegantypingfuriously.Ithadbeentoolongandthetensiontoo high betweenWes and I.Weneededtofindsomethingthat could work for us both.Thetruthwas,webothcareddeeply for one another, but

we’re not in a position to betogether,butthatdidn’tmeanwe couldn’t care. And itdidn’t mean we shouldn’tfindawaytogetoverthefactthat both of us are going tohave relations with theopposite sex. I can’t expecthim to be celibate when I’mnotofferingthesame.

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersWho needs the other

letterswhenI’menjoying theB’s?

Of course, he’d have totake me off kilter and bringtheseriousbackintoplayjustas I was enjoying our causalbanter.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningThe letter C is pretty

nice, too. California,Cuddling, Caring,

Commitment, Channing…Cock.

I laughed out loud.Leave it to him to sandwichtheseriousshitinwithajoke.

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersIf my memory serves,

I’ve already had ChanningCock and it was prettyfuckingfantastic.

IknowIrespondedabit

boldly, but Iwas determinedto bring things back to thelight, fun, nature of ourrelationship.IfIwasgoingtoholdontohiminanyway,wehad to keep that above allelse. Yes, knowing he wasfuckingGinahitmehard,butI’dhadaweektothinkaboutitandasmuchasIwantedtodrop everything, head toCalifornia on the first flightout, and claim my man, thatjust wasn’t in the cards for

me.IhadtohopeWeswouldkeep things casualwithGinaandifhedidn’t,therewasnoother option but to be okaywiththatdecision.I’dmadeitclear that our time wasn’tnow.Istoodby thatdecisionasmuchasitguttedme.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningIt will be waiting the

secondyouwantanothergo-round,sweetheart.

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersCrazy man! Go surf;

don’t let those waves passyouby.We’ll chatmore inacoupledays.Dutycalls.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningCrazyforyou.

That was the last thinghetextedbeforeradiosilence.Crazy for me. I was crazy

about him, too, but I wasn’tabouttoputthingsbackonaserioustone.Weneededtime,lotsofittogetpasttheblow.HeknewIwasfuckingothermen, I knew hewas fuckingGina.Thatwasreality.

“What’sgotyourfacelitup, sweetness?”Mace asked,enteringmy sideof thehotelsuiteinastunningthreepiecesuit. Damn, the man lookedgoodinhisuniform,andina

pair of raggy jeans with aholeintheknee,butinasuit,heexudedapowerfulairthatI liked…a lot.Mason smiledand waggled his eyebrowsand slowly turned around,giving me the entire view.“Youlike?”

I nodded. “You know Ido. I can’t wait until Rachelsees you. She’s been hidingoutallweek.”

Mason’s lips turneddown into a scowl at themention of her name.“You’ve got the wrong idea‘boutRachandme.Youneedtogetthatouttayourhead.”

This time I shook myhead.“Noway.Isawthewayyou two lookedateachotherlastweek.She’sintoyou,butI don’t know why she’shidingout.”

“She’s not. She’ll beheretodriveusovertoPowerUp.”

That’s when we bothheard a knock on the door. Ismiledwideandrushedtothedoor as quickly as mystilettos would take me. Iswung open the door andthere she was in anothersmart suit, only in gray. Asoft pink blouse highlightedthe pink in her cheeks and

glow to her skin. This timeher blonde hair was pulledback into a tight ponytail atthenapeofherneck.Shehaditdoneinthiscoolwaywherethe rubber bandwas coveredwith her own hair so it wasmagicallyholdingitselfback.Ishouldfindouthowshedidthat. Itwould be a neat trickto learn, something I couldteachGinandMaddy,too.

“Hey Rachel, how are

you,” I swung the door openwide. She lookedme up anddown.Iwaswearingaleatherpencil skirt and a flowingwhite blouse. This skirthugged my ass and thebillowyblousegaveadoseofcleavagethatIfoundalluring.Definitely something a proball player’s hot younggirlfriendwouldrock.

Shecringed.“Thatoutfitisovertlysexy.Thatskirtwas

supposed togowithabuttonup.” Her lips pursed prettilybut were still accusatory andfor the first time, I feltlacking.

“Um, okay, I didn’tbring any of the button upshirts because I thought theywentwiththetrousers.”

That’swhenMacemadehis appearance. Just himentering the room stole her

breath. I heard her take anaudible breath and hold it.Her eyes widened and herteeth sunk sexily into herbottom lip. The girl wasgonzoovertheguy.Whythehelldidhenotseeit?Iturnedandwatched asMasonmadeaslowcircle,showingoffforthesecondtimethismorning,onlyreallymakingabigdealaboutitforRachel’sbenefit.

Hisgrinwaswidewhen

hemadeitallthewayaround.“Does this say, responsiblespokesperson for Power Upsports drink and QuickRunners?”

Rachelnoddedmutely.

“Apparently, you’reperfectandIlooklikeasexyho,” I mumbled but grabbedmy purse. Mason’s eyesnarrowed and he swung anarm around my waist and

brought me close to him. Islammedintohischestandhelooked down at me, eyesshowing his concern. Iglanced at Rachel and sheinstantlylookedaway.

“Hey, you look perfect.Sexy as hell. The media hasseenyou in jeansand t-shirtsallweek.Nowit’stimetoseeyou lookingposhandyoung.Exactly how I like mywomen. Besides, do you

think the big wigs wouldthink I’d bewith some stuckup professional with a stickup her ass?” At thatcomment, I saw Rachel’sshouldersslump.Inhermind,shewastheverydefinitionofa stuck up professional andright now, I could see hersqueezing those cheeks sotightshecouldshitdiamonds.Thisdidnotbodewellformyplan“OperationHookRachelandMasonUp.”New tactics

wouldhavetobedraftedandcarriedout if I had anyhopeofsucceeding.

I kissed Mason’s cheekthen wiped away the lipstickleft on his clean-shaven jaw.“Speaking of sexy, doesn’tRachellookhotinhersuit?”Igestured with a head tilt inRachel’sdirection.

Mason’slipcurledupateach corner showing those

dropdead sexydimples. “I’ddo her,” were the stupidwords that came out of hismouth. You could take theplayeroutofBostonbutyoucouldn’ttaketheplayeroutofthe man. At this, I punchedhisarm.

“How manyconversations have we hadaboutyoubeingajack-ass?”Iputupbothhandsandmarkedoffeachfinger.

He rubbed his shoulder.“Sorry, Rach, but I’d totallyfuck you.” I punched himagain. “Ouch, stop fuckinghittingme.”

“Stopbeingadick!”

That’s when Rachelwadedin.“Bothofyou,stop!Mia, it’s fine. I’m used toMason’s crass behavior bynow.”

Cringing,Iputahandto

my hip. “Doesn’t change thefact that it’s immature andtasteless.”

Rachel laughed and itsounded like bells jingling.Even her laugh was sweet.“True, but thank you for thecompliment,Mr.Murphy.”

An intense heat hit melike awall of flames.Masonpractically growled aresponse to her. “Howmany

timesdoIhavetotellyoutocall me Mason or Mace,Rachel? We’ve known eachother for two years. We’rebeyond the professional. Atleast, I’d like to think weare.”

Her eyes jumped up tomeet his and she clasped herhands together and knottedher fingers. “Yes, uh, you’reright. We are. I apologize.Old habits and all that. Shall

wego?”

“Should I change?” Isaid dryly, really needing toknow.Iwasheretomakehisimagebetter. I thought Iwasrocking a kick ass outfit butapparently I needed to beschooled.

Rachel looked at meonce more. “You do lookreally beautiful, Mia. Youalwaysdo.I’msorry,Ididn’t

respond well. Everything’sfine. Let’s not keep ourprospective sponsorswaiting.” She opened thedoor and the three of ussteppedthrough.

***

ThePowerUpteamwassurprisingly boring. For acompany thatownedasports

drink geared toward youngathletes, you couldn’t havefound a duller group. Theoffices were all white andblack with pictures of thedrink standing on a whitebackdrop lining their walls.Thereweren’tanyfunpicsofmen doing wicked sportsactivities like rock climbing,swimming, motor sports,holdingupaPowerUpbottleas I would have expected. Ifyou asked me, and they

didn’t, of course, so I stayedquiet,theyneededMacemorethan Mace needed them. Ifthey had any hope of goingagainst the big guys likeGatorade, they needed theirownimagechange.

Rachel, however, spokeher mind and made it veryclear why she could affordperfectly tailored suits andwhatever fee Mason waspaying her. She worked that

room and had a room full ofmen eating out of her hand.She promised the Power Upexecutives that not onlywouldMasonbeinthemediaawholelotmore,hisbaseballrecordwasproofpositivethathewas in theMajors tostay,aswell ashowyoungpeopleloved a bad boy turned goodguy. She even spun differentways the team could workwithMason to improve theirownimageandhowher firm

wouldbehappytoworkwiththeirmarketingteamtocomeup with the best possiblecampaigns to successfullylaunch both companies to anew plane. And then hisagentspokemoney.

Apparently, being aspokesperson for a sportsdrink company was worthmillions. When they startedthrowing around figures thatwereinthetensofmillions,I

almost lost my breakfast. Icouldn’t imagine that a fewcommercials, some photoshoots, and some meet andgreetswereworththatkindofmoney. Then again, I wasbeing paid a hundred G’s tosit here and look pretty.People were bat shit crazyeverywhere. This is just howthe other half lives and nowthat I was the arm candy, Igottoseeitliveandinlivingcolor.

OnceweweredonewithPower Up, who said theywould consider all that wasdiscussed and make adecision within the nextweek,wetookalimoovertothe folks at Quick Runners.They were in line to be thenextReebokorNikeandjustneededthatextrabitofpizazzto push them over the edge.Mason Murphy, the bestpitcher inbaseball todaywastheir ace in the hole. Rachel

madesuretheteamknewthattobetrue.Thisofficewastheexact opposite of Power Up.Where that team was allstaunchbusinessmen insuits,thisofficeseemedtobefilledwithjustoutofcollegegradswearing jeans, polo’s andtennis shoes. We left thatoffice with a verbalcommitment for anotherbucket-o-millions, and, aslongasMasonkepthisimagesqueaky clean, they would

remainonboard.

When we got into theelevator, the teamwavedandhigh-fivedoneanotheras thedoors were closing. Thesecond they closed MasonturnedtoRachel,grabbedhercheeks and said, “You. Are.An. Amazing. Fucking.Woman!”Andthenhepulledher into his body and laid afatkissonher. Istood in thecorner, hands to my chest

tryingnottosquealwithglee.When he pulled away, shelooked dazed and loopy. Hepulled away and grabbedmeby the waist and hugged meto him. That’s when I didsquealandjumpupanddownin his arms. “Did you seethat? See our girl workingthoserooms.Holyshit.Whataride!”

Mason grippedRachel’sshoulders and yanked her to

his side. He had each of uscuddled in one arm. “Ladies,today was a huge win forTeamMurphy.”

I snickered. “TeamMurphy?”

He nodded vigorously.“Yep, Team Murphy. You,”heshookmebytheshoulder,“AndourQueen,Rachel,”heshookher.“And,ofcourse…theprettyface:moi.”

Both Rachel and Isighed. “You’re so full ofyourself.”

“Yes, yes, I am. Andnow, it’s time to celebrateand be full of somethingelse…booze!”

Rachel’s eyes got big.“Mason, we can’t gogallivanting around. You’vegot eyes on you and a gametomorrownight.”

“True. So we invite acoupla the guys and theirchicks to the suite, order upsome pies and some beers.Funnightin?Youin?”

Beers, boys, pizza…umyeah. “Hell yeah!” I said.“Come on Rach, you gottacelebrate, let your hairdown.”

Mason’s eyes went toRachel’s golden hair. “Now

that’s something I’ve neverseen.” His hand came up toher ponytail and spun itaround his hand into a fistand let itgo.“Would love tosee this fuckin’ gold down,curled around your face. Sopretty,”heleanedclosetoherear and this time my eyeswent wide. She lookedpositivelyreadytodroptotheflooreitherinsurpriseorfear.Could be a little of both.Mason sniffed against the

space near her ear. “Christ,you smell good. That’s thefuckin’ almond smell I can’tplace. It’s you. It’s alwaysbeen you. Smells so good Icouldeatit.”Hegrowledintoher neck and inhaled loudlybefore pulling away. Helooked at Rachel like ahungry lion before a juicysteak.

Then the doors of theelevator dinged and the spell

wasbroken.RachelmovedasfastasherstilettoswouldtakeheroutthedoorsandintotheNewYorkevening.“Time tohead back, get those pizzasand beer. Youwant tomakesome calls to your friends,Mason?” She pulled out herphoneandignoredtheforlornlook on his face. He closedhis eyes, took a breath, andclimbedintothelimo.

“Yeah Rach, I’ll make

the calls.” I slid in next tohim and placed a comfortinghand on his knee. “See, toldyou so,” he said thenput hisphonetohisear.

***

OursuitewasfilledwithRed Sox and oddly enoughsome Yankees ball players.We’d ordered in a couplekegsofbeerandatleasttwo-dozen pizzas that were

getting demolished atlightning speed. Womenoutnumbered the men inattendance, which I founddownright strange. It madesense if there was a one toone ratio but apparently,some of the single menoffered up the pizza party tosomeofthegroupiesandtheytoldothergroupiesandsoon.Now we had women whowere dressed normally injeans andcute tops, and then

thereweretheho’slookingtogetapieceofproballplayerdick in ‘em to mark theirbedpost.

Eventually,thepartygotabitwild.Somuchso that Iended up inmy room sittingon the bed getting snockeredwithRachel, passing a bottleofJamisonbackandforth.

“You know, if youwanted Mason you could

have him,” I told herblatantly,theliquorlooseningmytongue.

She made a face and anoise with her mouth thatsounded likeairescapingoutof a tire. Rachel pointed toher disheveled outfit. “Youthink he wants a piece ofthis?”Shestillworehersmartgreypencilskirt,butherpinkblouse had been unbuttonedand was now wrinkled and

half tucked in her skirt. Herhair was cocked to the sideand her mascara smudged. Ididn’t even want to knowwhat I looked like. I’d sincelost theexpensiveblouseandreplaced it with a tank top,thoughIkepttheleatherskirton because I thought it was“tits”asmygirlGinellebackhomewouldsay.We’dmadeit up back in the day. If weliked something a lot we’dsay “tits” because very few

things were as desired orcoveted as a nice pair ofboobs.

Gettinguponmyknees,I got behind her and pulledout her ponytail. Her longgolden locks framed aroundher face perfectly, adding toher beauty. “Wow. You’refucking hot!” I said, thenleanedover took a sip of thewhiskeyandpasseditbacktoher. Then I got a tissue,

licked it, and rubbed thesmudged mascara off herface. “There, now you’resuper hot! But you need toloosen up a bit. You’re soworried about everything,” Islurred and flopped back tothepillows.

Rachelpursedherlipsina way I’ve gotten used toseeing with her. It said shewas really giving what yousaid some thought before

commenting. I liked thatabout her. “Yeah, you’reright. I need to bemore likeyou. Free, young, and readytotakeontheworld!”Sheputa hand into the air in a fistpumpbut it lackedfinessesoshelookedmorelikeshewaspretendingtobethestatueoflibertyholdinguphertorch.

Without being able tostop,Ichuckled,thengiggled,then out and out laughed so

hardIpiggysnorted.

She pointed a finger atmy face and then busted uplaughing herself. Finally,whenIgot itundercontrol, Iclasped her hand. “Youshouldgo for him.Tonight!”Iheldhercheeksandhereyeswidened to the size of half-dollars.

“What!”Iwassquishinghercheekstogethersoitcame

out sounding like a birdsquawking which made melaughagain,butIwasquickerongettingitincheck.

“For realz! You shouldgo up toMace, and tell himyoulikehim!”

Rachel held her mouthopen and shook her head.“YouthinkIshouldtellhimIlikehim?Asin,likehim,likehim?”

Why did this soundfamiliar? My brain wasswishing from side to side,floatingona lakeofJamisonIrish Whiskey, so I couldn’tput twoand two togetherbutmy idea felt solid. “I’ll helpyou!”Ipulledheroffthebedand stood her up. Then Iplucked at the buttons of hershirt opening two of themuntil I got to a nice expanseof rounded cleavage. Shesmackedatmyhands.

“Whatareyoudoing?”

I groaned. “Duh! Therearefourthingsmenlike.Thefirst being tits! You’ve gotsome, we need to showthem.” She nodded andpressed her chest out inoffering. “Good, that’s good.Do thatwhenyouseeMace!Okay, next,men like hair.” Ifluffedherhairandmadesureit looked soft and sexy.“Nice.” I pinched my lips

between two fingers andswayed onmy feet. “Ass!” Ipointed at her, turned heraround and checked out herass.TheskirthemwastinysoI crouched down and rippedthehemupthemiddlesoherass and legs were showingmore. Then I smacked hertinyass.“Excellent!”

“I don’t know aboutthis,” Rachel said in a tinyvoice.

“No. No. No. This isgonnabesoawesome!”ThenIpressedmy fingers intomytemple. “I can’t rememberwhat number I was on butmouths.”Iscamperedoveronmy bare feet to my makeupbagandpulledoutalipglossthen spread it over Rachel’ssweetpout.“Menlovetoseeshiny lips.Makes them thinkaboutyousucking theirdick.Would you like to suckMason’s dick?” I asked

drunkenly.

Hercheeksturnedcherryred, but in a breathywhispershesaid,“Yeah.”

“Okaythen.Thatwillbephasetwo.Oneisgettinghimtonoticeyouandyou tellinghimyoulikehim,likehim.”IgrabbedthebottleofJamisonand took a healthy swig,letting it burn a path downmybellybeforeIhandeditto

her. “Your turn.” Shefollowed suit and then wewere both headed back outintotheparty.Ihadamissionand even though it was astupidone,Iwasconvinceditwouldwork.

BoywasIwrong.

Chapter4

Remember that oldsaying,“TheroadtoHellwaspaved in good intentions?”Man, whoever said that shitwas spot on. I had no ideawhatwouldhappenwhenweleft the sanctuary of ourprivate girl party but theatmosphereofourlittlepizzaand beer soiree had changedconsiderably. There were

people everywhere! Smokebillowedandnotjustthekindyou get from the cigarettestore. No, the kind you getfromaguynamed“Bud”whosays he can take you to analternate reality just by onetoke.Thiswasnotgood.

Bodies were smashedtogether all around us. I hadtosinkmyclaws intoRacheltomakesureIdidn’tloseherin the crush. What the fuck

had happened and how longhad we been in that room?From the fact that I couldn’twalk straight, it must havebeen awhile. I didn’trecognize anyone around usuntil finally, I made it toMason’ssuite.

I was not prepared forwhat I was about to see, butRachel, sweet, innocent inlove with Mason Murphy,little Rachel, was definitely

unprepared. The room wasdarkandmusicblaredsoloudI couldn’t hear or seeanything. Tugging onRachel’s hand, I pulled herinto Mason’s room thinkinghe’d probably gone to bed.Whatabetterwaytosurprisehim than with a hot, supplewomanhehadathingfor!Ofcourse, this is not whathappened.Eventually,Ifoundthelightswitchandflickediton.

Masonwas lyingon thebed, only he wasn’t alone.AndwhenIsaynotalone,hewasn’t just with a woman;thereweretwoofthescantilydressed groupies there withhim. I watched in shock,horrified and turned way thefuck on, while I watchedMason getting his cocksuckedbyabrunettewhoI,inmydrinkfilledbrain,thoughthad some seriously greatdick-sucking technique. She

was able to easily take himrightdownherthroatandthatwas a skill. Then of course,therewasacurvyblondewhowasfacingthebackwall,herlegs caging Mason’s head,her pert ass glistening as shegyrated her hips. Mason’stonguewasvisiblypushinginandoutofherpussy.Hewaseatingher likeapro,gorgingon her flesh as she rockedintohimlikeshewasridingastallion.Itwasthemosterotic

thingI’deverseen.SowhileIwanted tositbackandwatchtheshow,mayberuboneoutfor good measure, I finallyheard a sob through thesymphonyofmoans.

Tears sluiced downRachel’s face and a delicatehand came up to her mouth.JustasIwasgoingtogetherout of there, we both heardthe blonde scream out. “I’mcoming!” I looked back and

watched as Mason handsgripped her ass and hegrowled into her cunt whileshe screamed. Then his hipsskyrocketed up into the airand the brunette shoved ahandtoherpussyandrubbedthen started bucking over hiscock.Hisreleaseshotintohermouth and dribbled out thesidesas shecamealongwithhim. Fuck. I’d never seenanything so blatantly hot inmy life. When I turned to

Rachel, she was gone. Thedoor was open about a footwhere shemust have slippedout.Iwastoodrunktochaseafterherandconsoleher.

“Shit,” I blew out abreathofair.

“Whothefuckareyou?”Thebrunettesatupandwipedthe cum off her lip with thebackofherhand.

I crossed my arms over

my chest. Mason shoved theblonde off his face andlooked up at me. “Mia,sweetness.Thishere isuh...”he looked left and thenlooked right. “Tasty Pussy,and Super Sucker,” helaughedandthegirlssmiled.

“Seriously! And Ifucking brought you apresent.” I snarled , put ahand tomy hip and stompedmyfoot.

His glazed eyes and redcheeks proved not only washe happily sated but drunkandpossiblyhigh.Bothwerebadforhisimage.ThankGodwe were in our private suiteor he’d risk losing his newsponsor and prospectivesponsor. “Please tell me it’shiding under those clothes.I’llshoothesefuckingbitchesoffquicktogetatasteofyoursweetcunt.”

I sucked in a breath.“YOU DOUCHE! Stopthinking with your fuckingdick!”

At that moment, saiddick was hard and ready forroundtwo.Igaveitagander.It was a really nice lookingcock, too. Long, thick, hard.Brunette wrapped a handarounditandrubbeditupanddown. He groaned but kepthis eyes on me. “Sure you

don’t want some! I’moffering?”

I shook my head. “Ibrought Rachel in here. Shewasgoingtotellyouthatsheliked you, liked you! Thenshe saw you fucking theseslutsandranoff.”

That did it. He flungbrunette hobag off and thenpushed off the bed removinghimself from hobag two.

“Rachel was here,” hepointed to the floor. “Inhere?” I nodded. “She sawme fucking these bitches?”Pushingmylipstogetherinagrimline,Ilookedathimlikethestupididiothewas.“Fuckme!”

“Okay baby, we will.Just come back. It’smy turnto suck on you,” said blondehobag.

Hescowledandthensaton the bed. “Get out of myroom,” he growled. Brunettehobag did not get the hint.Sheputherarmsaroundhimand rubbed her fake tits intohisback.

“Come on baby, we’llmakeyoufeelbetter,justlikebefore.”

“Leavenow!”heroared,stood up, and went into his

ensuite.

“You deaf?” I openedthedoor.

“You just want him foryourself.”

“Well, since I’m thegirlfriend…I’m going to gowithyes.Nowgetout!”

Ijustgotthegirlsoutofthe room whenMason cameoutinapairofjeansandwas

digging through his suitcaseforat-shirt.“Ihavetogofindher.”

Rubbingahandovermyface, I grabbed his hand.“Andtellherwhat?Sorryyoucaught me fucking twofloozies? I don’t think that’sgoingtowork.”

He pushed his handsthrough his hair and thenflopped back down on the

bed.“Ican’tjustleaveit likethis.”

“Technically, you don’toweheranything.Besides, itwasmyfault.”

He blew out a torturedbreath. “No, you were justtrying tohelp,butasusual, Istarted thinking with mydick.”

“What happened?” Itried. When I’d left him he

was hanging out with theguyseatingpizza.

Mason shook his head.“OneminuteIwaschattingitup with my bro’s, the nextminute I notice you andRachel were gone. The twogroupies were all over me,and the more I drank, themore I didn’t care. I justwanted to feel…something.Youknow?I lookedforyou,looked for Rachel, but they

kept onme and I gotweak.”His shoulders slumped. “Doyouhateme?”

I put an arm around hisshoulders.“No,Idon’t.WhatI saw was fucking hot.” Hechuckled softly. Man, hereallywas beautifulwhen hegave a genuine smile. “I justdon’t thinkyourgirl, theoneyou really want, thought itwas as hot as I did. Shewasreally sad. Crying and

everything.”

His head shot up. “Shewascrying?Honestly,Mia, Iknew shemight be sweet onme, but it’s never been likethatbetweenus.She’salwaysbeen untouchable. Perfect,professional, pretty, thewhole package. A girl likeher would never be with aguy likeme.We’re in totallydifferentleagues.”Herubbedhischinandthesoundofhair

gratingalongcallousedpalmssent chills racing up myspine. Reminded me ofanothertimeandanotherguythatIadored.

“Igetit.There’sthisguyI like, too. Way out of myleague, but I’d like to thinkwhen the time is right, we’llbe in the same league at thesametime.Ithinkyoucandothat,too.”

“Youlikeaguy?”

I grinned. Of course,that’swhathe’dzeroinon.“Ido,but the timing isn’t right.When it’s right, if it is everright, it will just be. And itwill work out. I have tobelieve that. But you can dosomethingnow.”

Mason looked off intothe distance then broughtthosegreeneyestome.They

weresoft,almostbeseeching,as if my own held theanswers to every questionhe’d ever want to know inthem.“Showherwhattypeofmanyoucanbe.Whattypeofman you are in here,” Ipointedtohischestwherehisheartwas.“Livelikethemanyou want to be. She’ll comearound.”

“Youthink?”

I smiled wide andhuggedhimintomychest.Hesmelled of sex and cheapperfume.“Iknow.”

“Thanks Mia. You’repretty all right you knowthat?”

I laughed into his neck.“You’re pretty all rightyourself,butyousmelllikeawhorehouse. Do the world afavor and shower. I’ll work

on Rachel. You work onyou.”

He stood up and helpedmeup.“I’llworkonme.”

“While you’re workingon you, can you work ongetting these people out ofour room? I can’t sleepwithpeople fuckingon the couch,pot being smoked, bodieseverywhere, and musicblaring.”

Heopenedthedoorfromhis room to the living areaand took in the party.“Fucking hell. We’re nevergettingsmashedagain.”

I choked on a laugh.“Neversaynever.”

***

The rest of our visit in

NewYorkCitywent by in aflash. The team had threegamesinNYC,lostone,wontwo. So far, their rank waslooking really good. QuickRunners booked Mason astheir official year-longspokesperson for the newperformanceall-aroundsportsshoe.Itwasgoodforrunning,walking,playingball,andallother varieties of sports. Westillhadn’theardfromPowerUp. Apparently, their people

had heard about Masonbooking with Quick Runnersandwantedtomakesurethathaving the samespokesperson was a goodthing for their image and theway theywanted to run theircampaign. This, however,was not bad for Masonbecause another couple ofopportunitiescameoutofthewoodwork for baseball gearand energy bars. Word gotoutfast.Nowwejustwaited,

Mason played hard, andstayed off the radar. Part ofthatwas going home.Whichis where we were driving tonow. I was finally meetingMason’sfamily.

When we got to thesmallhomeoutsideofBostonproper, Mason walked rightinwithoutknocking.

“Backhereboy!”Aloudvoiceyelledandwascoupled

withthesquealingsoundofasmallchild.

Mason held my handand took me through thequainthome.Stuffedanimalsand dolls littered the floorwhere a child at play musthaveupandabandoned themfor something else. Therooms were dark, lived in,andhomey.Youcouldtellbythepicturesonthewallthatawoman had once lived here,

but by the layer of dust onthem and the lack of girlieadornments, it had been awhile. In the center of onewallwasaweddingphoto.Aredheaded, pale, beautifulwoman stood in a very old-fashionedweddinggownandhadherarmslockedaroundalarge man with dark brownhair and kind eyes. A manwho could be the spittingimage of Mason. That appledidnotfallfarfromthetree.

Wemade it through thehome to the kitchen where Iwas instantly assaulted withthesmellofcookedmeat.Mymouthwateredatthesmellofsage, and rosemary alongwith whatever was brewingonthestovetop.Alargeroastsatontopofthecounterandamanwith his back to uswascarving it into slices andplacing them on a platter. Asmall red-headed girl withgiant blue eyes clocked me

the second I entered. Shestood up and clapped herhands. She couldn’t bemorethan four years old. “You’rehere!” she squealed in thatwayonlysmallchildrenwerecapable of, with their wholebodiesandfullofjoy.

I smiled wide and theman turned around and boywas I not wrong. He lookedexactly like Mason or whatMason would look like in

twenty-fiveyears. “HeyDad,thisisMia.She’smyuh…”

The man smiled wideand laid out a hand. “You’rethe woman everyone says ismyson’sgirlfriend.”

I wasn’t sure howMasonwantedtoplaythissoI stayed quiet about thegirlfriend part. “It’s good tomeetyouMr.Murphy.”

“Call me Mick,

everyonedoes,‘ceptmyboysbecause I’ll tan their hide iftheydisrespecttheirelders.”

AtthatInudgedMason.“YourDadisawesome.”

“Yeah, unfortunatelywhen he’s around my coolfactor goes down about fiftynotches.”

“Anddon’tyouforget itboy! Now set the table willya?”

Mason proceeded to setthe table while I introducedmyself to Eleanor who likedtobecalledEllie.Shewalkedme through the house andshowed me every single oneof her toys then her roomwhere she had everythingprincess and was very proudof it. I scanned the room. Inever had anything like thisasachild.Aroomdevotedtothe things I loved as a kid.MaddyandIalwaysshareda

room and neither one of ushad a theme or anythingmuchwecouldcallourown.Made me sad for what Imissedoutonandhappythateven though men we’reraising Ellie without awoman’shand,theywerestilldoingrightbyher.

My heart ached whenEllie placed a crown on myhead and one on her own.“You can be the Queen, and

I’ll be the Princess,” sheoffered.Inoddedthenhuggedher little body. She held metight before another look-a-like of the Murphy familyinterrupted us. Made mewonderifanyofthemlookedliketheirmother.

“You must be Mia?” Inoddedandstoodupfromthefloor, Ellie clasped my handtight.

“Daddy, thisQueenMiaand I’m Princess Ellie. Doyou want to be the King orthe Prince?” she asked, hereyes serious as she stared atherfather.

“IwantPrincessEllietowashherhandsfordinnerandletQueenMiagetbacktoherKing,”hesaidplayingalong.

Ellie looked up at mewith her huge blue eyes that

she must have gotten fromher mother because her Dadhad the samegreen eyes thatboth the other Murphy menhad.“Willyousavemeaspotnext to you at dinner,QueenMia?” She asked in her toocutelittlevoice.

“Of course I will,Princess Ellie; I’d behonored.” I bowed for effectand she clapped her hands,spun on a toe, and was off

runningdownthehall.

The big man withcoppery hair and green eyesheldoutahand.“Sorryaboutthat. Ellie doesn’t get muchfemale time. I’mBrayden.” Ishookhishandandheldit.

“Totallyokay.Ihadfun.Ican’trememberthelasttimeIspentplayingwithachild.”AndIcouldn’t.Thereweren’tany children in my family

that I knew of, none of myfriends had kids, welltechnically, a couple of mynew friends were going tohave babies and Tony andHector’s other family, theones with children, didn’thang around us when I wasthere. So this was the firsttime in several years that I’dspentone-on-one timewithachild. It was fun. I ratherenjoyedit.

Brayden ledme back tothe table where I sat downandchatteduphisbrotherandFather. When the food wascompletelysetonthetable,awhirlwind crashed throughthe back door, skidded to astop, and dropped hisbackpackon thefloorbehindhim. “Shit, Mace yourgirlfriend is fucking hot!” Agangly,tall,gingerhairedboywith the same green eyes asthe rest of the Murphy men

shouted.

“Mouth!” Mickchastisedwithaforkpointingintheboy’sdirection.

“Sorry Dad but dang…sweetgirlyougotMace,”theboylookedmeupanddown.“I’m Shaun, how are you,sweetness?”

Ohno,hedidn’t.Hejustcalledmesweetness.“Well,Ican see who’s rubbed off on

this young impressionablemind,”IglaredatMasonandhe actually lookedchagrinned.

“Shaun,don’tcallchickssweetness. They don’t likeit.”

“Sure,theydo.Ihadmytongue in this sweet chicktoday.”MyeyeswidenedandBrayden pressed his handsoverEllie’sears.

“Boy,IswearI’mgoingto take two inches off yourheight if you don’t chooseyour words more wiselyaround my daughter. Andstop disrespecting women.You’re teaching her badshit!”Histeethwereclenchedand poor little Ellie’s wasslappingatherfather’shands.

“Daddyyyy stop. I can’thear when you do that!” shecrunched up her little nose

and looked at me. “DoesUncle Mace ever do that toyou?”

The men at the tablelaughed. I smiled and tappedher nose giving the preciousgirl my full attention. “No,because I’m an adult, butyourDaddyisprotectingyoufrom hearing things that arenotappropriate foryou.He’saverygoodDaddy.”

She nodded and shoveda giant forkful of mashedpotatoes into hermouth.Hercheeks pushed out like achubby bunny. I shook myheadandlookedupatShaun.“If you want to keep awoman in the future, you’lllearn to call her things thatactuallymakeherfeelspecialand not like one of many.Rememberthat.”

Hiseyeslookedmeover

in away that a teenagedboywhoonlyhassexonthebrainwould.Extremelyskeevy.“Ifit securesme a hot babe likeyou,I’lldowhateveryousay,sweetness.”

Mason’sforeheadhitthetable.Braydenshookhisheadand I bit back a seriouslyprofane comment. Thepatriarch on the other hand,had no problem laying intoShaun,which he did after he

pulled him by the ear intoanother room. When theycame back, Mason andBrayden both had shit-eatinggrinsontheirfaces.Elliejusthappily ate more potatoesthenaskedformore.

“Sorry for being rude,Mia. I’ll try to be morerespectful,” Shaun grumbledthroughasourexpression.

“Thankyou,Shaun.That

waskindofyou.Nowtellmeembarrassing stories aboutMason,” I changed thesubject and every manbesides Mason smiled andstartedsharing.

By the time dinner wasdone,my belly hurt so bad Icouldhardlybreatheletaloneput any cheesecake into it.Thestoriesweredetailedandplenty. The guys spent hourstelling me about crazy

Mason. Inhisyoungeryears,hewasaclassclown,thoughthe was the worlds’ greatestinventor, and had absolutelyno luck with the ladies. ThelastpartIfoundunbelievablelooking at how he’d filledout. The whole package wasnice, once you got past thedouchey ways, but we wereworkingonthoseandhewasmaking some seriousprogress. Not enough forRachel tocomearound,butI

had hope that I could worksomemagicthere.

While the men cleanedup, another thing I foundincredibly cool, guests of theMurphy household never diddishes, even if you were awoman. I guess they just gotusedtodoingallthedomesticduties themselves. It wasenlightening but sad. Sowhile they cleaned up, Ilooked at all the pictures.

There weremany of Eleanorthemotheraround thehouse.Pictures with each boy, withthe boys all together, andhappyoneswithherhusband,Mick. They looked reallyhappy, a solid family. Herewas a woman who foughtcancer and probably wouldhave given anything to juststaywithherfamily,whereasmy healthy mother had ahappy family she left for herown selfish desires. To this

day,Iwasn’tevensurewhereshe was and as much as Ipretended not to care, I did.Somuchthatitpissedmeoff.

Mason came up behindme, placed a hand on myshoulder, but didn’t sayanything. “Your mother wasreallybeautiful.”

“Yes, she was. She wasthe perfectMom, too.Reallycared about us. The cancer,

whenshegot it, ravagedher,sweeping through so fastthere was little we could do.Dadbeatshimselfupthatshedidn’t get tested early.Dad’sonly forty-five. Mom wasgone shortly after she turnedthirty-five. They hadseventeen perfect yearstogetherifyouaskDad.Thenshewasjustgone.Shealwayssaidshe’dgettestedwhenshewas forty like the rest of theworld.Thatwas too long for

her.” His tone was sad andfilled with the longing of amanwhomissedhismother.Iunderstoodthatalltoowell.

I thought about thebeautiful Eleanor who waslost to the world at such ayoungagewithfourboysanda husband that needed her.They carried on and had oneanother; they were still afamily.

“We should dosomethingforyourMom.”

Mason’s eyebrowsnarrowed. “What do youmean?”

AsIthoughtmoreaboutit,theideaswirledwithinmymindandtookflight.Itwouldbe perfect. “I mean aboutbreastcancer.Getinvolvedinthe cause. You’re a bigprofessional ball player. We

should do a fundraiser orsomething; donate it to thelocalbreastcancerawarenessgroup in Boston. We couldget pink bracelets, that youand I could wear, shirts forme and the WAGs. If theteam wants to get involved,they can. Not only would ithelp your Mom’s memory,thewomenfightingnow,andthosewithfamilyhistorythatshouldgetprescreenedearlierthan forty, but it would look

goodforyourimage.”

Mason smiled, his tinycrooked toothshiningagainsthis pearlywhites. “Wecouldhelp women like my mom,”he said in total awe, like itwasthebestideasincemajorleague baseball. “I love it!You’reafrickin’genius!”Hepickedmeupandtwirledmearound. “So what do youthinkwedofirst?”

Forthenexthour,wesatdownwithEleanor’s favoritecheesecakeMickhadmadeinher honor, and we talkedabouthowwecouldhelpgetthe word out using Mason’scelebrity status as a pushing-offpoint.

Chapter5

Think Pink was thecampaign name we came upwith. Once back in Boston,MasonandIgottowork.Weordered special Think Pinksilicone bracelets to pass outat games, and special shirtsfor the WAGs that we rushordered and paid an ungodlyamount to ship overnightonce the items were ready.

MyshirtIorderedpersonallyand paid for without Masonknowing about it. The backandfronthadMason’s jerseynumber, and on top, it said“For Eleanor”. It was supercute and I knew it wouldmeanalottoMason.

Whilehewaspracticing,I stayed back at his pad andwrote out a plan for afundraiser. Rachel was allover the idea and thought it

wasgreatandofferedtohelpmakeitsomethingthatwouldactually raise a lot ofmoneyfor the cause aswell as helpMason’s image. We hadn’ttalked about last week’snightmare and she didn’tseem in the mood to. Eachtimeshewaspresentshewasall business all the time.Somehow,Ihadtofindawayto get back into her goodgracestopromoteMasonasaprospective boyfriend.

ThoughIwasataloss,atthemoment, for ideasonhow tobestdothat.TheorgyRachelwitnesseddefinitelydidsomeserious damage to her beliefthathewouldbeintoherandprobablymadehimseemlessdesirable.Forme,hebecamemore desirable, but that’sbecause I needed to get laid.Just thinking back towatchingthatwomansuckonMaceandhimgoing to townonthatblondewasenoughto

fill a couple masturbatorysessions in the shower thispast week, but I needed thereal thing. Only Masonwasn’t on my mind.Unfortunately,atannedblondfromCalifornia, currently onlocation with the chick hewasfucking,was.

I sighed and continuedtyping out my plan thenfigured I neededreinforcements. I pulled out

myphoneanddialed.

“What up, skank?”Ginelle’s voice rang throughthe line. Just hearing herfamiliar voice made mehappy. It also had thedownside of making mehomesick.

“Planningafundraiser.”

Gum-smacking and afull-bellied Gin laugh brokethroughmy concentration on

the list I was typing. “Uh,isn’t the idea to raise themoneyyouneedtosavePopsalready happening? Youknow, lying on your back!”She laughedmanicallyatherownjoke.

“Not for me!” I sighed.“ForMason.”

A strangled noiseslippedthroughtheline.“Therich baseball player needs

money?Why?”

I groaned. “Just listen,bitch. We’re improving hisimagebysupportingthelocalbreast cancer awarenessgroup here in Boston. HisMom died young from thedisease and he wants to dosomethingtogiveback.Sincehe’s playing ball andpracticing,I’mworkingonanevent where we could raisesome money and help his

image.Makesense?”

More gum smacking.Truthbe told, I likedhearingthe sound of that way morethanthesoundofherinhalingoneofhercancersticks.

“So what are youthinking?”sheasked.Mybestfriend,Ginwasnothingifnotcreative.She’dcomeupwithsome good ideas. I ranthrough thegist of the event.

We were going to hold it atsome posh hotel downtown.Most of the starting teamagreed to participate. Severalfriends ofMason’swould bethere, a famousDJ agreed toplay the event free, anotherrestaurateur friend of his PRfirm agreed to offer theirservices and food free ofcharge.

“Oh,andwe’regoing tohave a silent auction filled

with baseball paraphernalia,andotherdonateditemsfromfriends of the players. But Idon’tknow,Ineedsomethingthat will really draw somehigh dollars.Got anything inmind?” Ginelle paused solong I wasn’t sure she wasstillthere.“Well?”

“I’m thinking, don’t getyour panties in a twist…ifyou’reevenwearingany thatis,”sheaccusedandshe’dbe

right. I wasn’t wearing anybecause I had on tightleggings that would showlines and no one needed toseethat.

“Shutup!”Iwarned.

Gin laughed and itsounded likehome.Myheartfilled with love and joy as Iwaited patiently and didrandom Google searches forother charity events to see

whattheydid.

“Okay, so you’ve got abunch of really hot baseballplayers going to this thingright?Likeatleasttwenty?”

“Yeah,” I said, notknowing where she wasgoingwiththis.

“Soinsteadofjustdoinga silent auction, why don’tyou auction them? Get anauctioneerguy,youknowthe

ones that talk really reallyfast,makesuretheguyswearreallyhotoutfitsliketuxes,ormaybe have them strip offtheirshirts.Richwomenlovethat shit!” She was notwrong. I could see womenpliedwith champagne fallingalloverthemselvestogetatashirtlessbaseballplayer.

“Gin, that is fuckingbrilliant.”

She huffed and I couldimaginehertwirlingalockofhair and gloating prettily. “Iknow.I’mgoodlikethat.”

“Yes, you are. Have Itold you lately that I gotnuthin’ but love for youbaby?”

“Whatcha got?” Shesang back bringing us bothbacktotheoldschooljamweliked to listen toon theradio

backhome.Itplayedallkindsof throwback songs from the90’s. We were too young toknow the songs then, but inour twenties we bothappreciated the silly rap/popsongsfromthatera.

Ithoughtabouthowthiswouldwork. I’dget theguysto agree to a date with thewoman that buys them. Shehastopaybuttheyhavetodowhat the womanwants for a

four-hour period. Even themarried oneswould do it forthe cause. “Gin, honestly Ithink thiscould raisea lotofmoney.”

“Wellduh.Themenarehot.Whatrichbitchwouldn’twant a piece of that eyecandy on her arm for anight?”

Again, not wrong. “I’mgoing to draw up the plan.

Thank you, thank you, thankyou.”

“Eh, you can pay meback with pictures of hotdudes stripped to the waist.And I’m not kidding. Youhave this event and you donot sendmepicturesofhalf-naked men I will find reallyevilwaystoembarrassyouinthe future.And don’t think Idon’t have pictures to provesome of the shit you did in

thepast.”

“Whore!” I shot back,remembering she did in facthave an entire box full oftroublewe’dgotten intoovertheyearstopullfromanduseagainstme.“Youwouldn’t!”

She clucked her tongue.“Isowould!Half-nakedmenpictures, sent to my phone,individually…and do notforget Mason. I want one of

thatsexybastard.”

IlaughedhardasRachelentered the kitchen where Iwas set up. I waved and shewent to the coffee pot andpulleddownamugandfilledit.

“All right you blackmailing dirty slutbgag,”Rachel’seyeswerewideandshealmostdroppedhercoffeecup.Ididn’thaveachanceto

explain,buttriedtoshakemyhead and wave in a gesturethat meant everything wasokay. “You’ll get yourpictures.Butyoudriveahardbargain.”

“Always do, and hey,Madsisdoinggreat.Thatboyshe’s seeing is totally nice. Idouble-checked…still avirgin, but girl, I’m notthinkingfor long.He’s reallycute, likes her a lot, and she

fallsalloverherselftopleasehim. It’s actually reallysweet. So far though, heseems like a good guy. Shecould do a lot worse for herfirsttime.”

I groaned and put myheadinmyhand.“Youthinkshe’sgoing togiveupherv-cardtohim?Forreal?”

“Yeah, she can’t staypure forever, Mia. She’s a

grown woman. She’snineteen for crying out loud.Shit, I’mnot even sure I canremember how old I waswhen Igaveup thecard; it’sbeensolong.Ihonestlycan’tremember a time where Iwasn’tgettinghotcock.”

This time I moaned.“Gin, don’t talk about cockand my sister in the samesentence. You’re going tomakeme break out in hives.

And you better not beencouragingher togive ituptohimeitheror I’llhuntyoudown, pin you to a wall andcut off all your hair, puthoney on your nipples andleaveyoufortheants!”

“JesusChristonacross.That’s fucked up. You’d dothat to your best friend? Ineed to make new friends.Mine’s a goddamnedpsycho!” she roared then

laughed hard. I followed suitimaginingherstucktoawallwithhoneyonhertitsandherhaircutinchunksallovertheplace.

Controlling the laugher,Itookadeepbreath.“You’reright. Iwouldn’t do that, butplease,nexttimeyouseeher,havehercallmeokay?”

“Will do. I’ve got to gopractice the new routine. Let

meknowhowtheeventgoesanddon’tforgetmyreward!”

I shook my head. “Heyskank, I love you, and I’mproud of you for laying offthe cancer sticks. Want tokeepyouinmylifesothatwecangrowold,getabunchofcats and a beach housetogether.”

“I always loved cats.”Gin said wistfully, her voice

peteringoff.

Shetotallysetmeupforit. “That’s because you lovepussy!” I howled and thenhung up on her before shecouldget ina retort.“Ah,allis right in the world,” Iopened my eyes and cameface to face with a strickenRachel.

“Are you beingblackmailed?” her eyes were

aswideasmilksaucers.

I laughed out loud andshookmyhead.“No,thatwasGin my best friend. We’realwayslikethat.”

“You always threateneach other and call oneanother foul names?” hervoice was screeching and Ididn’tunderstandwhy.

“Uh yeah? Don’t youwithyourbestfriend?”

She shook her headnumbly. “No. No, I do not.We say very nice things toone another, do lunch, andshoptogether.”

I cringed.They shoppedtogether. Yikes. That is notsomething Gin and I didtogether. Drink beer, checkout hot guys, gamble a little,play cards, go to concerts,yes,shopping…erno.“Sucksto be you,” I said, meaning

everywordofit.

“SomehowIdoubtthat.”She said flippantly, and Igrinned. So she had a littlefireinheryet.Thatwasgood.Mason would light a fireunderher sobright she’dgetburned if she didn’t have alittleofherowntobattleit.

***

Rachel was not excitedabout the auctioning menidea, but Mason thought itwas brilliant. He called eachguy on his team and camebackwithcommitments fromovertwentyplayersthatwereavailable this weekend andwillingtobeauctionedoff tothe highest bidder, and taketheir clothes off, well theirshirts, for charity. I foundpinksuspenders foreachguytowearandaskedthemallto

wearanicesuit.Theplanwastohavethemenremovetheirjackets, shirts, and be leftwith the suspenders. I wasalso planning on painting apink breast cancer ribbonover each man’s chestdirectly above his heart tokeepwiththetheme.

Once Mason got home,hesatdownat the tablewithRachel and me andbrainstormed other ideas

whilehegrilledsteaksonthebalcony, and Imade the sidefixings. Together, we cameup with tons of ideas to getthe word out in such shortnoticealongwithwaystogethis Dad and brothersinvolved, too, since this wasultimately away for them tohonortheirmother’smemory.ItoldhimtohavehisDadgeta picture of his wife that heloved blown up and framedfor use on one of the tables.

The other players that hadfamilymembersthey’dlosttothe disease would also shareimagesoftheirlovedonessothe donors in attendancewould know the real reasonbehindtheevent.

We made certain thechapterpresidentof the localBreast Cancer Awarenessgroup would be there andcouldsayafewwords.

“Mia, Rachel, I gottahand it to you ladies, you’rethe bomb at planning a lastminute event.” Masongrinned and hugged myshoulder then kissed mycheek. He went over toRachel who stiffened themomenthemovedclose.

Mason’s voice got low,but I could still hear him.“I’m sorry about what yousaw last week. It shouldn’t

havehappened.That’snotthekindofguyIwanttobe.”Helooked deeply into her bigblueeyesandshenoddedbutdidn’t respond. He movedclose, inhaled against herhairline, and then kissed hercheek. “Thank you for yourhelp with this. You didn’thavetopullallthosestrings.”

Rachel lifted her headand blinked, staring prettilyinto Mason’s gaze. Could it

be any more obvious howinto one another these twowere? I needed to up mygame and get things movingin the right direction.“Mason, I’d help you withanything,” she said in anequallylowtone.

Hisfingerstunneledintothe hair at the nape of herneck,hisbighandcuppedherjaw, and his thumb sweptacross her bottom lip. She

gasped and I watched withrapt attention, hoping he’dmake themove and kiss her.“What you’re doing to helpmy Mom, it means a lot. Iwon’tforgetit.Youneedme,Rach, I’m there. Just call,anytime, anywhere. Got it?”he said then leaned forwardandkissed her forehead as ifshewassomethingprecious.

Rightthen,itdawnedonme. To Mason, she was just

that…precious. For him,Rachel wasn’t like all theothergirls.Hefeltheneededto treat her with kid gloves,touchheras thoughshewerespun glass or a fragileartifact. Wow. Once thosetwo hooked up, that wasgoing to be it for him. Hemighthavebeenaplayer,butIthinkhesawafutureinhereyes, one he desperatelywanted,butdidn’tknowhowto capture.Good thing Iwas

hereforanothertwoweekstomakesurehegotthegirl.

“I do, Mace,” she saidthensmiledashepulledbackand went to the balcony totendtothesteaks.

I put my head in myhandandwaiteduntilhewasgone. Rachel watched hisevery move as he left. “So,smitten much?” I said,wagglingmyeyebrows.

Her head shot back tomine and she narrowed hergaze. “I have no idea whatyou mean. Last week I wasdrunk and out of line. Imayhave given you the wrongimpressionaboutmyfeelingstoward my client.” Shestressedthewordclient,butIwasn’t sure if it was for mybenefitorhers.

I tilted my head to theside and took a long sip of

beer. “You aren’t foolingmeand you definitely are notfoolingMace.He’sontoyouhoney.Andsoon,he’llbeonyou,” I snickered atmy ownjoke.

Rachel groaned andshookherhead.“Youneedtostop, Mia. If you haven’tforgotten, you are hisgirlfriend.”

“Pretend girlfriend and

honey, let’s not forget that.I’m doing a job. The fanslovehim;we’reworkingonafundraiser that will only dogood for Mason’s imageprofessionally but more soit’s good for him to dopersonally. Giving back inhonor of hisMom.He reallyloved her and misses her alot. All theMurphymen do.Youhelping thewayyouareproves that you care and notjust about Mason’s image.

You have more than a littlecrush. Admit it,” I dug thelastshotinandsatback.

Rachel licked her lipsandbitdowninto thebottomone. She leaned her headforwardandnodded.“Fine. Iadmitit.I’vecaredforMasonforalongtime.Heck,IthinkI fell in love with him themoment we met two yearsago. But that hasn’t changedthefactthatI’vewatchedhim

parade around with women,drink like a fish, and spent alot of my own time pickingup those pieces. Doing thatchanges your opinion ofsomeone.”

“Itcan,itdoes.”Iagreedwith her. “But obviously ithasn’t changed the way youfeeloryouwouldn’tbedoingwhat you’re doing. Youwouldn’thavevolunteered tohelp him clean up his act.

You genuinely care abouthim and you’re breaking atthe seams trying to hide it.I’veseenthewayyoulookathim, how you light upwhenheenters a room.You’renotfooling me. You may havebeenfoolinghimthelasttwoyears,honey;buthisblindersare off. He sees you and helikeswhathesees.”

Herdelicatehandscameup to her face and she ran

themoverherfeatures.“Howcanyoubesure?Idon’twantto be the next up in a longline of throwaway women.I’d rathernothavehimatalland get to be in his lifealways, than have a taste ofhim and lose him foreverwhen he wakes up andrealizes I’m not the type ofgirlhelikes.Ifyoulookathistrackrecord,you’dknowI’mnot.” She points at me, mycurves and makes a circular

gesture. “No offense,womenlikeyouarehistype.Buxom,beautiful, sexy, all the thingsaman like him can get timeand time again.” She sighedanddroppedherheadintoherhandwithfinality.

“Sweetheart,I’mnotthetype of girl you marry. I’mthe typeofgirlyou flirtwithandfuck.Masondoesn’twanttosettleforagirllikeme.Hewants to have what his Dad

had. A wife, a home,children,thewholeenchilada.You’d give him that andmore. You’re the wholepackage.Notanescortwho’stalentedatwaitingtables,canact, and rocks aman’sworldinthebedroom.ThatlastoneI’m pretty proud of, but itisn’t going to securemeMr.Right, justMr.RightNow. Ithinkyouneed tobeopen tomore withMason, especiallysince I’ll be out of your hair

intwoweeks.”

This time when sheresponded,shepursedherlipsand leaned into the table. “Ifyouwereme,howwouldyougo about making a move?Especially after lastweekend’s attempt was acompleteandutterfail.”

“Last week did suck aboxofrocks.”Inodded.

“Itwasn’ttheonlything

that was sucked,” shequipped.

Mymouthdroppedopenin shock. “You made a sexjoke!”Ilaughed.

Her own eyes widenedandher cheeks pinked up. “Idid!”

“There’s hope for youyet!” I exclaimed, and weboth giggled. “Seriouslythough,Mason’sprettyeasy.”

“Isn’t that the truth?”Her retort came right on theheelsofthelastoneandblewmeaway.

I shook my head andcovered my mouth. “Two inone night. Bust out thecalendar, girl we need tomark this night off as thenight Ms. Professional losther poise and busted out herinnervixen!”

She looked over at thebalconythencalmeddown.“Iwanttoknowthough.Idon’thavea lotofexperiencewithapproaching men when Iwant to you know…” shetrailedoff.

“Fuck?”Iguessed.

“God! No. Well, yeah,butdateiswhatImeant.Jeez,you’re just like him. Socrass.” Holy hell. Was she

right?WasIjustlikeMason?Nah, she’s just overly primand proper. At least, that’swhatItoldmyselftogetpastthe potential truth in herstatement.

Pushing my hair backintoatwistandclippingitupwith the claw I had danglingfromthehemofmytanktop,I cinched it into the bulk ofthe locks. “This is whatyou’re going to do. At the

charity event this weekend,you’ll have a couple glassesof champagne to loosen up.You’ll flirt a little with himallnight.Nothingimpressive,you know, little toucheshere,” I slide my hand fromtheballofhershoulderdownto her elbow then pull back.“Maybe some handclutching.”Iclaspedmyhandwith hers and proceeded totug her to standing andwalkaround the living room. I’d

stop, cock a hip, and batmyeyelashes at her then lookaway suddenly. “Make sureyougivehimsomeglancesatyourassets.”

At the word “assets”Rachel’slipspinchedtight.“Idon’treallyhaveanyassets.”Shemumbled.

I looked at her as ifshe’d grown a second head.“Girl, every woman has part

of herself that attracts theoppositesex.”Ilookedherupand down. “You’ve got aserious set of legs. Wearsomething short. Get a nicepush up bra and lift thosegirls and make sure a goodglimpse of them is availableinthedressyouchoose.”Shenodded, so I continued. “Oh,and hair down. Rememberhow he mentioned he wouldlike to see your hair down?Haveitstyledsoftandinbig

curls to cascade down yourback.Ifthedresshasanopenback,evenbetter,”Iwaggledmyeyesforemphasis.

“Why?”sheaskedandIwanted to groan and smackher upside the head. Couldshe possibly be that naïvewhen it came to men? Thewoman was in her earlytwenties for crying out loud.She had to have some ideahowamanthought.

Instead of telling her allthis, I just answer. “Becausewhenmenseeopenbareskintheythinkofsex.Thinkingofsex and you in the samethought isagoodthingwhenyou want to ultimately bedMace.”

“I want to be withMason,notjustum,gotobedwithhim.”

This time I couldn’t

controltheexasperatedbreathof air that left my lungs.“Men relate good sex withgood times they could havewithagoodwoman.Havingagreat sex life and beingsomeone Mason wants tospendtimewithoutsideofthebedroomworksinyourfavor.Thoughusuallymen thinkofthe sex first. It’s just ananimal instinct.Soyougot itall? You’re going to seduceMason at the party this

weekend?” I asked, giddybeyondreason.

“I’ll think about it,” shesaid.

Iscowledbutunderstoodtherewasnomovingthisgirlany faster. She had a wayabouther, and I thinkafter afewdaysof thinkingabout itand building up her courage,she’d make the right choice.“Promise?”Iencouraged.

She smiled wide and itwas true, her smile couldlightadarkroom.“Promise.”

Masonentered the roomthen and shut the balconydoorwithonelonglimbandapushofhisfoot.“Arethetwomost beautiful women in alltheworldhungryorwhat?”

I shook my head.“Alwaysaplayer,” I laughedandthistime,Racheldid,too.

Iwouldhaveexpectedasourexpressionnotachuckle.

Progresswasgood.

Chapter6

Entering the swankyhotel venue for tonight’sThink Pink event had bothMason andme stunned.Pinkballoons covered the entireceiling, lighting reflectedpink breast cancer ribbonsand our new tagline “ThinkPink” was splayed all overthepitchblackwalls.Adiscoball swirled around shooting

specksofwhitelightineverydirection. Soon, the guyswould show and the doorswould open. Waiters werereceiving their instructionsoffinthecorner.Allofthemwearing a pink t-shirt withourtheme,andthegirlswerewearing a tank top that said“SavetheTaTa’s”overtheirbreasts. It was crass, it wasfun,anditwasaballplayer’stypeevent.

Mason and I however,weredressedtothenines.Hein a pristine black suit and apink button up, the pinksuspenders I asked everyplayer to wear and a tie thathadbreastcancersribbonsalloveritmadehimlookliketheprofessionalheneeded tobe.His coppery brown hair wasslicked back and his greeneyes were dancing all overtheplacetakinginthevenue.High top tables with black

cloths adorned with pinkrosesbunched into thecenterand tea lights glinting offtheir petals sat on eachsurface setting the mood. Itwas beautiful, classy, youngandyetstillhip.

“Mia…” his voicetrailedoff,clearlytakingitallin and loving everything hesaw.Ibeamedwithpride.Myfirst charity event lookedamazing. Of course, it had a

lot to do with the strikingblonde that was walking ourway.I thoughtI lookedgoodin a hot pink cocktail gown,sequinscatchingthelightandtwinkling like the ball aboveour heads. Not even close.Rachel made her way fromthe back of the room. Shewore a soft pink satinstrapless number that camedown to her knee but had aslit up to the hip giving theultimate sex appeal with a

sweetheart neckline thatshowed off her breasts. Herhair was down in the oldHollywoodfashionstyle theywore back in the day. Ashock of bright red lipsticktopped her full lips. A fineline of black coal liner, gavethe perfect cat-eye to herbaby blues. I did not expecther to look the way she did.She was a pin-up girl slashclassydame.

Mason stood in silence,watching her approach. Hisjaw was clenched and hiseyes were blazing hot. He’dnever looked at me like thatbefore.Thatsteamygazewasall for the tall blonde whomade me feel positivelywhoreish in my flashy attirecomparedtoherelegance.

“You guys lookfantastic,” she cooed whenshemadeittous.

Mason looked her upanddown,grabbedherbythewaist,cuppedhercheeks,andlooked deeply into her eyes.She didn’t say a word, justallowed him to manhandleherandIknewwhy.Becauseit was alpha, it was smokin’hot, and when a man likeMace grabbed you andhandled you that way, youjust took it and thanked themighty Heaven’s that it washappening.

“You look fuckingbeautiful,” he said, his eyessearching hers. “Every manhereisgoingtowantyou.”

“There’sonlyonemanIwant,” she responded withfull confidence. If I wasn’ttrying to shrink into thedarkroomandawayfromtheduo,I would have high-fived herfor that line. It was forwardand pure sex; I’d give herpropslater.

“Is that right?Anyone Iknow,” he traced her facewithhisnose.Shephysicallytrembledinhisarms.Ialmostfeltthemovementinmyownbody. It was like watching asteamyforeignfilmlive;onlyI knew what the charactersweresaying.

She licked her lips andMason’s eyes traced themovement. She so had himhook, line, and sinker. The

manwas a goner! “Maybe. Iguess we’ll have to see howtonight goes,” she whisperedsoclosetohismouth,hehadto feel her breath against hisownlips.

“Well, save a dance forme,eh?”

Rachel smiled a secretsmile only for Mason. “I’llhavetocheckmydancecard.Make sure it’s not already

full.”

“There’s room for me.I’llmake room.”He smirkedand she leaned into him andthenpushedawayslowly.Heallowedit,butIwasn’tsureifthe room got hotter or if itwas just the heat these twowerepushingoffoneanother.

A bunch of the playersarrived wearing much thesame thing that Mason had

on,suits,buttonups,andpinkgalore. It was awesome. Icouldn’twaittofindouthowthe auction would go.Thinking of auctions, Igrabbed Rachel’s hand andled her over to the tablewhere a wide variety ofthingswere set out for silentbidding. Really expensivebottlesofwine,membershipsto clubs, trips, cruises,vacationrentals,younameit,it was on the silent auction

table.

“So you invited thewho’swhoright?”

Rachel picked up aclipboard and nodded. “Yep,wehavefourhundredpeopleconfirmed RSVPs fortonight’sevent, all thatmakesevenfiguresayear.”

“Damn, I didn’t thinkthere were that many richpeopleintheworld.”

“Well, we’re dealingwith celebrities, sportsfigures, team owners,sponsors and the like.We’vegot a lot of organizationscoming just to get the facetime so they’ll make adonation to look good andkeeptheir inwiththeplayersand other investors involved.It’s a vicious circle when itcomes to people, business,andtheirmoney.Theyliketoshowitoffunder theauspice

ofgivingitback.”

“I don’t caremuch howtheydoitorwhy,justaslongas we leave here tonightdonating a lot to the cause.Do you think we’ll make atleast fifty to a hundredthousand?”

Atthatcomment,Racheltipped her head back andlaughed.Laughedsohardshehad to put the tips of her

fingers to her tear ducts tostaunchtheflowandnotmessup her makeup. “Mia, if wedon’t make amillion tonightI’dbeshocked.”

Onemilliondollars.Inanight.I’mworkingeverydayas an escort to rich dudes tomake a million to pay backmy father’s debt to his loansharkandwemightmakethatmuch in an evening.“Unbelievable,”Igasped.

Herhandcameuptomyshoulder and squeezed.“Different type of lifestyle.Don’tworry, they can affordit.”

“Iguess so.At least it’sall going to a really goodcause.Masonwillbepleasedifwemakethatmuchfor thecharity.”

“Come on, let’s get thisparty started. People are

startingtoarrive.”

***

The next three hoursflew by in a whirlwind ofmeeting people, hob-knobbing, drinkingchampagne, dancing to theDJ’sbeats,andlaughingwithall the baseball wives.Everyone was having a blast

and the last I checked, theauctiontablehadhundredsofthousandsofdollars’worthofbids for the items beingauctioned.Even if the playerauction flopped, the charitywould still get around half amillion, which absolutelymademegiddywithdelight.

Ishimmiedonthedancefloor sipping my pinkchampagne. All the drinkswere pink tonight and

flowing freely. The crowdwas having a blast andeveryonewasinaverygivingmood.

Rachel came up to meandgrabbedmyhandleadingme off the dance floor. Ipouted. “Hey, don’t look atme like that. It’s timefor theMen of the Night Auction!Wantedtomakesureyouhadperfect seats for the show.”Good looking out, I thought

tomyself.

Oh yeah! Sexy baseballplayers stripping off theirclothes. I pulled my cellphone out of the side of myboobs. Rachel looked at meand shook her head. “I can’tbelieve you can fit a cellphoneinyourbra.Menmustloveyourchest.”

I looked down at myplump ta-ta’s and grinned.

“Never had a complaint,” Iofferedandshegiggled.

The auctioneerwe hiredcame up to a long stage andstood off to the side by apodium.“Tonight,wehaveaspecialtreatfortheladiesoutthere. Seeing as this is acharity for women, we’regoing to give the womensomething to bid on. Men,come on oooooouuuuuuut!”He said, drawing the word

out. All twenty-five baseballplayers came out onto thestage and lined up. It was athingofbeauty.Veritableeyecandy no matter where youlooked. “We’ve got for yourbiddingpleasure…adatewitha Red Sox baseball player!Theytakeyououtfornolessthanfourhoursforthedateofyourchoice,”hisvoicetippeddown, “within reason,ladies.”

TheDJstartedplayingasaucy stripper type numberandthethirdbasemanwalkedout. “Ohmy God, it’s JacobMoore!” one womanscreamed and threw up herpink paddle before theannouncer even got thechancetoaskforabid.

“Well, looks like we’vegot some excited bidders.How about you take thatjacketoffandshowtheladies

whatyou’vegothidingunderthere, Jake!” Jacob playedalong. His blond hair andblue eyes shined in the light.“How about we start the bidoff at one thousand dollars!”Holy fuckballs! A thousanddollars as the starting bid! Icouldn’tbelieveit.

Needless to say, itwasn’tenough.Jacobstruttedaround the stage, and themoment he unbuttoned his

shirt, his bid upped to fortygrand. “There are someseriously rich, horny chickshere,” I said toRachelwhileclicking a pic of Jake andforwardingittoGin.

Instantly, I got aresponse.

To:MiaSaundersFrom: Skank-a-lot-a-

PussI fuckinghateyou.Keep

em coming…which is whatI’d like todo to thatpieceofhotmaleaction.

I laughed and showedRachel what Gin said. Sheshook her head. “I can’tbelieve you have your bestfriend in your phone as“Skank-a-lot-a-Puss.”

“Whynot?It’sfunny.”

She shrugged. “If yousayso.”

We watched theoutfielder go for anothertwenty thousand. Next up,leftfield.Therewasawomanstandingbythestageliterallydrooling over his chocolateskin.Hematchedthecolorofdark chocolate perfectly. Hewent for fifty. That womanwas not about to let him gofor anything less.She startedherbidattwenty-five.

I nudged Rachel in the

shoulder, clicked a pic, andsentthedarkbeautytoGin.

To:MiaSaundersFrom: Skank-a-lot-a-

PussFuckme.I’dtakesucha

giant bite out of thatchocolate ass. I wonder ifhe’d melt in my mouth andnotinmyhand.

Withthat,andmyeasilytipsystate, Icrackedup.Full

guffawsthatwereunlady-likeandmadememissoneoftheplayers being auctioned. Ididn’t tell Gin. That wouldjustpissheroff.

“So Rach, we shouldmess with these bidders.Force ‘em to go higherright?”

“We could, they’redoing a pretty good job ontheir own though. By my

count, we’re eight guys inand have alreadymade threehundred thousand. The lasttwobothwentforfifty.”

I watched the next guycomeout.ItwasJunior.Kris,hisprettygirlfriendranup tome bouncing. “Junior isallowingmetobuyhim!”shesquealed in utter andcomplete glee. This ought tobegood.Mostwomenwanteda piece of Junior Gonzalez.

He was perfectly edible.Tonight,wasnodifferent.

“Sorry, Kris,” I held upthe camera and when all themocha hotness came intoview, his eight pack absshining, the pink ribbonpainted on his chest I aboutswallowedmytongue.

Kris cried outscreaming, “Me, me, I wanttobuyhim!Hecancatchme

any day!” she roared and Isnapped a picture of Junior’smale beauty. Okay, if I washonest, I snapped several.Face front, side view, and adefinitely tight ass picwherehe squeezed those gluts andhad all the ladies holleringout.IsentthearrayofpicstoGinelleandmyphonepingedwiththeladiesscreams.

ToMiaSaundersFrom: Skank-a-lot-a-

PussOMGJunior! I loveyou

Junior!TellhimIlovehim.I couldn’t even put my

phone down before it pingedagain.

ToMiaSaundersFrom: Skank-a-lot-a-

PussThat ASS! Have mercy

onmyslutty soul. I’d lethimcatchme, throwme, bat me,

tag me, as long as he did itnakedandfuckedmestupid.

The bidding went wildfor Junior, and at each bid,Kris would pout. Then thetiny firecracker got downright pissed off. Waving herpaddle around, yelling at theauctioneer, and shooting evileyesatthewomenbidding.

Finally, she screamed“One hundred thousand

dollars!” And I almost fellback. Rachel caught me andtippedmebackonmyfeet.

“Kristine! Are youallowed to spend that muchmoney?” I asked, concernedthat she was about to get insomeseriousshitwithJunior.

She nodded vigorouslystill waving her paddle andgiving attitude. It was funnyas all hell. Then she

respondedtome.“Hewantedto donate to the causeanyway. This way, no onegetsmyman and he gets hiswish to donate themoney inMace’s Mom’s honor. Hesaid he always wanted toshowhisrespectandMaceisa brother from anothermother.That’swhathesays.”

She beamed and thendanced around when theannouncercried,“Sold to the

petiteblondeforonehundredthousanddollars!”

Instead of walking backto his spot, Junior jumpeddownfromthestage,eyesonhis prize, picked up his girl,and crushed his mouth tohers. “You did so goodbaby!” he said, swinging heraround like a rag doll. Shepreened and kissed him allover. Those two were madefor one another. I know,

usually a religious, old-fashioned Hispanic malewould normally go for aLatina, but somehow he’smaking it work. It would beinterestingtoseehowthatallworks outwhen he takes herhometohisMother.Ivisiblyshookthinkingaboutit.Withhow much they loved eachother, you could tell he didnot give a crap about old-schoolrules.Hehadhispixieandhelikedit.

Man after man wasauctioned off. Bids in thehightensofthousandsalltheway up to one hundred andfifty had already been calledtonight before it wasMace’sturn.Thelastmanstanding.

“All right everyone, theman you’ve all been waitingfor. Mason “Mace”Murphy!He can throw a ball at onehundred miles an hour, he’sbeen on sexiest man alive

lists all over the globe, andnow he’s here for yourbidding pleasure. Let’s starttonight’sbidatfiftythousanddollars!” the announcercalled.Paddlesflewupacrossthe room. A veritable sea ofpink. “All right not highenough for you high rollers,let’s go to one hundredthousand!” Still at least tenpaddlesstayedup.

Finally, when it got to

two hundred and fifty, onlyone paddle was up. “Do Ihear two hundred and fiftythousand dollars? Goingonce, twice, and sold to theladyinthepinksatindress!”

I turnedmy eyes to myleft and sawRachel’s paddleup in the air.Mason winkedat the crowd and jumpeddown. He stormed over toRachelandpulledherintohisarms.

“Didyoujustbuymefora quarter of a milliondollars?” he asked in awe. IwasrighttherewithhimandIcouldn’tbelieveiteither.

“The company told mehow much I could give.You’re about to sign severalspokesperson deals,advertisements, and productsponsorships; overall, that’sreallyadropinthebucketonwhat we’ll secure off our

commission. Want to keeptheclienthappy,”shepurred.Her lips glistened off thelights, making them lookdelectable.

A quarter of a milliondollars was a drop in thebucket.Fuckme,Iwasinthewrongcareer.

“I don’t know what tosay,”Mason’seyesweresoftandtookineveryinchofher

face.

“Thank you would be agood start.” Her eyebrowquirkedand for the first timeI watched sweet, innocent,Rachelsmirk.Itwaslovely.

He held her face, butphotographers were alreadytaking pictures. This did notlookgood.Instead,hehuggedherclose,saidthankyouintoherear,andmovedtomyside

and nuzzled my hair. Thecameraswentofflikecrazy.

“Rachel,thisisn’tover.Iwant alone time with youafter the event. Don’t runfrom me. I want you in myroomwhenthisisoversowecan talk. Swear you willcome,” he pleaded under hisbreath.

“I will,” she promised.Thenhekissedmycheekand

wentofftoshakethehandsofthe donors who had givenduringtheauction.

***

The crowd continued todance and participate in thefestivities as the rest of thenight wore on. Finally,Mason’svoicebroke throughthe loud speaker and thelightsturnedup,signalingthe

night was just about over. Itwas after Midnight and myfeetwerekillingme.Ineededa hot bath, which I knew Ihad back in my hotel suite.Masonhadbookedusanotherdouble suited room so wewouldn’thavetodriveortakeataxibackthethirtyminutestohisplace.Instead,wewereinoneofthePenthousesuitesin the luxury hotel as weremost the players and theirWAGs.

Mason cleared histhroat, which soundedinordinately loud through thePA. “Can I get everyone’sattention?” He asked thecrowd and slowly everyonemade their way to standaround the stage. Thespotlight went onto Mace’sbeautiful face. “I justwantedtothankeveryoneforcomingtonight,forsupportingBreastCancer Awareness and thelocal Boston Chapter. Ten

years ago, my Dad lost hiswife, and my three brothersandI lostourMom.Shewasonly thirty-five years old.Thereisn’tadaythatgoesbythat we don’t miss her. Thecancer hit quickly and tookherfast.Sheneverevenhadamammogram because shewasn’t forty. Even with afamilyhistory, she thought itwouldn’thappentoher.Well,itdid.Let’snotloseanymoreof the women we adore to

thisdevastatingdisease.”

The crowd’s applausewasdeafening.Masonputhishand out and shushed thecrowdwithagesture.

“Though tonight was inhonorofmymother,EleanorMurphy, it’s more for thewomen who have yet to besaved. That’s why it is myextreme pleasure towelcomeupthePresidentoftheBoston

Breast Cancer AwarenessGroup to accept a check fortonight’s donations.” Masonlookeddownatthecheckandhis eyes turned watery, andbefore he could man-up, atear slipped down his cheek.He rubbedhiseyes.“Think Igot something in my eye.”ThecrowdlaughedandsodidI.

Mason shook his headandhishandtrembled.Seeing

abig,confidentmanhitwithsome serious emotion madethe entire crowd respond. Itwas like a tidal wave ofhappiness and sorrow mixedinto one. Mick Murphyjumped up on stage andclappedahandontohisson’sshoulder and squeezedseveraltimes.Beingthereforhis son, helping him standproudduringaverypowerfulmoment was something IwishedI’dhadfrommyown

dad.

“It is with extremepleasure and gratitude foreveryone here that I presentyou with a check for onemillion, twohundred seventythousand dollars.” Masonheld out the check and theentire crowd screamed soloud it almost brought thehouse down. Chills raced upand down my arms andgooseflesh rose across every

inch of my skin. We hadraisedclosetoonepointthreemillion dollars in a singlenight. The man from thecharity took the check, tearsrushing down his face. Hedidn’ttrytohidethem.

Through the mic thatwas held at Mason’s cheekyou could hear the man say,“Son, I lost my wife a fewyears ago. She would havebeen proud to see this. My

daughter is alive because ofthe work we do and theprescreening she underwentat twenty. I can’t thank youenough for bringing suchattention to the cause in ourown home town, but alsospreading the word throughyour good name,” he pulledback and finished. “And theentire Red Sox team. Thankyouall.Everyonewho’sheretonight and contributed, wewill put this money to good

use right away!” he wipedtearsfromhiseyes.

There’ssomethingaboutseeing grown men cry thatturns a woman into asniveling idiot. All thewomen around whereweeping, blotting their eyeswith pocket squares andhandkerchiefs,meincluded.

Itwas thebest night I’dhadinalongtime.

***

Back at the room, Isleepily pulledmyself out ofthetepidbathwater.I’dlongsince lost the bubbles, drankalltherestofmychampagne,eatenmyweightinchocolatecoveredstrawberries,andwasnowabout tohit thesheets.Ipulled on the comfy robe,wanting to go out and saygoodnight toMason. He had

been so busy with hisbrothers; I’d toldhimI’d seehimup in the roomor in themorning first thing for somebreakfast. He kissed mesweetly on the lips for thecameras that were anxiouslywaiting, held my hands, andthanked me for everything.Oneof theWAGsandI tooktoourroomsandleftthemento finish up their malebonding for the night.Overall, I was really

impressed with how thingsworked out. A crazy amountof money was raised, theentire event looked great forMasonandtheRedSoxteamas a whole and a bunch ofrich people got fat tax writeoffs. Most importantly,Mason’s mom was honoredand more women than I cancountonmyfingersand toeswould get the prescreeningthey needed and hopefullysavelives.

I felt like amodern dayMother Teresa in fuck mepumps, a tight skirt, and aleather jacket. I snickered tomyselfandsteppeddrunkenlyinto the open living room. Itwas empty, butMason’s suitcoat was thrown over theback of the couch so I knewhewasback.I tip toedtohisroom and saw a soft lightshining through the twoinchesthedoorwasopen.

As I got closer, I heardsome noises. My braincouldn’t quite seem to comeup with the appropriateresponse to what I washearing until it was right infront of me. Through thecrack in the door there weretwo bodies. Mason wasclearly on top of a woman,powering into her frombehind.

“Fuckyeah,sotight,”he

said. I watched, unable tolook away as he slid a handup the woman’s spine andinto her blonde hair. Hepushed it aside and that’swhen I sawwhowas on herhands and knees. Rachel.Sweet, professional, RachelwaspressingherperfectlittleassbackintoMasonwhileheplowed into her over andover. He curled a handaround her shoulder, andthrust hard. “Mine. You’re

minenow,Rach.I’mgoingtotake this sweet pussy everydayfortherestofmyfuckinglife,”heroared.

Rachel screamed, “Yes,Godyes.Mace,sogood.I’mgonna, I’m gonna, Oh mygod.”

“That’s it baby,”Masonsaidbeforeheliftedheruptowrap a hand around herbreasts and tweak both her

nipples.Shehadsmallbreastsbut they were the perfecthandful and he seemed toenjoy them withoutcomplaint. I knew I shouldgo, I shouldn’t stay andwatch, but they were sobeautiful. Unlike the erotickinky show I saw the lasttimeIcaughtMason,thiswassomething completelydifferent.Itwaslikewatchingart.Trulycapturingtheactoflove.

MasontweakedRachel’ssmall nipples into tight littlepoints. I bit my lip andsqueezed my legs together.The space between my ownlegs was aching, wet, anddesperate for attention. But Iwouldn’tdoit.Iwouldn’tgetmyself off while watchingthem. That would be goingtoofar.

Just as I started to backup and give them some

privacy, Mason’s hand flewbetween her legs where theblondehairwastrimmedintoa neat little line. He movedtwo fingers around andaround and she arched backjustashehammeredhiswayhome.Bothofthemcriedoutin combined release. It wasexotic, sensual, andsomething I wanted formyselfmore than anything. Ijustdidn’tknowwhoorwhenI’d find it. For a brief time

this year I thought I had it,butnow,Iwasbacktosquareoneand Iwasa freeagent. Icould be with whomever IwantedandsocouldWes.

Wes. God, even thethought of his name sent afresh pool of desire tomoistenthefleshbetweenmythighs.

Quickly runningback tomyroom,Ishutthedoor,and

flungmyselfintobed.Ididn’twanttodowhatIdidnextbutIcouldn’thelpit.Ipulledoutmy phone, brought up thepicturesI’dtakenofWesandAlec and scrolled throughtheir nakedbeauty.And thenI touched myself. It took nomore than thirty seconds andIwascryingout,mufflingmycries against my forearm,sinkingmyteethintotherobeand meat of my arm as thetremorswashedoverme.

It felt good while itlasted,butthenlyingthereinthe quiet of the room, theoverwhelming feeling thathummed just under thesurface was an unbelievablesense of loneliness. For thefirsttimeinmylife,Iwasbymyself, truly and utterlyalone.

Chapter7

Sponsors for Masoncame out of the woodworkafter our big charity event.Turnsout thatwhenayoungpro ball player goesphilanthropist, every majorsports related organizationwantsapieceofhim.Rachelwas fielding requests forinterviews, ad campaigns,commercials and the like all

week.Me,Iplayedthepartofpretty, devoted girlfriendwhile gorging on beer andbaseball. It. Was. Awesome.Three weeks in and I wasalready bemoaning the factthat soon I was going to beleaving Mason and the easylife. Sure, I’d be sent toanother richguywhoneededmeforsomethingelseandtheamenitieswouldbegreat,buttheywouldn’tbesomethingIcouldwrapmy arms around.

LivingwithMason, oncewegot past all his douche bagwayswasreallyeasy.Hewasfunny,smart,andlovedlivinglife. I felt young for the firsttime in a long time. Therewas nothing for me to doexcept be me. Mason likedme for me. As a matter offact,wegotalonglikefriendswhohada longhistory,eventhoughithadonlybeenthreeweeks.Weclicked.

Thegoodnewswas thatRachelhadbeencomingovermore often. They were sounbelievably cute together.Shewasstillshyandhemadea point of bending overbackwardtopleaseher.Mademe wonder how this was allgoingtoworkoutwhenIleft.Imeanthefansandthepublichadseenmeforthelastthreeweeks as the dotinggirlfriend, committed RedSoxfan,andthewomanwho

helpedherguyputonahugecharityevent.

“Hey Mace, do youthink we need to plan sometype of public breakup?” Iasked while pushing eggsaround the fryingpan. Itwasmy turn to make breakfastand Mason ate a ridiculousamount of protein so I wascookingadozeneggsforjustthe two of us, ten of whichhe’d gobble up, bacon, and

I’dcutupsomefruit.

Mason stole a piece ofbacon from the plate I hadsitting next to the stove andmunched on it thoughtfully.“Idon’tknow.WeshouldaskRach. My guess would bethatRachelandIwouldkeepour relationship under wrapsforafewweekssothepublicdoesn’tseemehoppingfromone girl to another youknow?”

I nodded, grabbed theshredded cheese andsprinkled some over thescrambled eggs then addedsomesaltandpepper.“Makessense. How is it goingbetween the two of youanyway?”Not that Icouldn’thear the sexcapades fromanother state away. Theycould work to keep it down.I’dbeen inapermanentstateof arousal allweek just fromhearing them through the

walls.

Hestoleanothersliceofbacon and leaned next to thestovewhileIplatedthefood.Two eggs and two slices ofbacon for me, ten eggs andfour slices of bacon forMason. I set the plates ontothe bar top where wepreferred to eat. The diningroom seemed too formal foreitherofus.

“It’s going good.” Hegrinned.“Neverknewsuchawildcat was under all thosesuits,butdamnifI’mnotthehappiestfuckeraround.”

I snortedandchokedonmyeggs.Heslappedmybackuntil it passed. “Wildcat?Seriously?”

He nodded, smiling sowide Icould seeevery tooth.“BestlayIeverhad.”

Thatearnedhimapunchto the arm. He rubbed it.“True though. She’s sweetandproperinhersuitsbutthesecondIgetheroutof them,man Mia, that little blonderocksmyfuckin’world.”

ThistimeIgrinned.“I’mso glad,Mace.Do you thinkitwillturnintosomething?”Iasked,keepingmyownhopein check, trying not to showhowexcitedIwasforthem.

He tipped his chin andnudgedmewithhisarm.“It’sserious. I can’t imagine anyother man putting his handson her.” He shivered andgroaned. “Makes me crazyjustthinkingaboutit.Ifigure,if thinking about her withanothermanmakesmewantto punch my fist through awall, it’s gotta meansomething.Right?”

“Right,” I agreed

instantly.

“So, I gather I’ll talk toher about it tomorrow nightwhenwe’reinSeattle.”

Seattle.WewereheadedtoSeattle.SomeoneIcaredagreat deal about lived in thatverycity.“Seattlereally?”

“Yep, plane leaves firstthing tomorrow morning.We’ll be there for a coupledays.Quickthreegamer.Get

your shit together,sweetness.” He cleared hisplate so fast it was as if theeggs and bacon had beenvacuumed up instead ofeaten.

I lickedmy lips and thepossibility of burning offsomeofthelonelinessI’dfeltthispastweeksparked inmymind like flicking on a lightswitch. “Hey, I uh have afriend in Seattle. While you

and Rachel are you know,doingyourthing,woulditbeokayifIhadafriendover?”

Mason’s eyes widenedand he grinned. “You’ve gotafriend?”

I narrowed my gaze athim.“Yeah,doesn’teveryonehavefriends?”

“What kind of friend,”he hedged with a hint ofmirth to his tone. “A male

friend.”

“Does itmatter?” I shotback throwing some seriousattitude. It wasn’t really anyof his business and I didn’tplanonsharing.

He shook his head.“Nope, just teasing. I don’tcarewhoyoufuck;aslongasthe press don’t catch windthat my fake girlfriend ischeatingonme,we’regood.”

That’s when I smiledandwaggledmyeyebrows.“Icanbediscreet.”

Mason licked his lipsand smirked. “I’ll bet youcan.”

***

Rain delay.Nothing butbuckets were coming downwhen we landed and got to

the field. The umps wereholding the game and hadbeen for the last hour. Thefanshoweverdidnotcareonebit. The Mariners werediehards for their team andprobably used to rain. GavemetimetotextacertainsexyFrenchmanI’dbeenmissing.

To:AlecDuboisFrom:MiaSaundersHey Frenchie…I’m in

town for a couple days. You

freetomeetuptonight?IcouldnotbelieveIwas

doingthis.Ihadn’tspokentoAlecsinceI’dleftalmosttwomonths ago. An hour later, Ifinallygotareply.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:AlecDuboisMaJolie,Iwillmeetyou

anywhere,anyplace.AmItoassume this is what youAmerican’ssayabootycall.

Uncontrollable giggles

left me at imagining Alecsaying “booty call” with hisFrench accent. I hugged thephone,alreadyfeeling lighterandnolongeralone.

To:AlecDuboisFrom:MiaSaundersAreyouinterested?To:MiaSaundersFrom:AlecDubois

Need you even ask?Wearverylittle.Iwanttoseeta peau parfaite the momentyouopenthedoor.

Perfectskin.Hewantstosee my perfect skin. Healwayshadawayofshowingme howmuch he adoredmybody. I thought back to hisfingertipscaressingmynakedhipupmywaistandbetweenmy breasts. He would

whisper beautiful Frenchwords into my ear as hetouched me. Alec made mebelieve I was beautiful. Ineveryway.

Immediately, I becameheated, desire swirling thickin my veins as theanticipation of seeing Alecspiraled through every pore,tickled along each hair,caressingmewiththeessenceofneed.

Tonight,IwouldseemyFrenchman.Icouldnotwait!

***

I opened the door andthere he was. Alec Dubois,my Frenchie. Before I couldsay hello, he grabbed mearound the waist, pulled meinto his chest, and lifted meoffmyfeet.His lipswereonmine and my legs wrapped

around his trim waist. Heturned, slammed the doorshut then pressedme into it,deepening the kiss. Thehardest part of him rubbedagainst the very space Iwanted himmost. I moaned,opening my mouth further.He took the invitation andswept his tongue inside toswirlagainstmyown.

Until that moment, I’dforgottenhowmuchImissed

kissingAlec.Whenhekissed,he did it with everything hehad to give…passion, desire,andgrace.SomuchgraceandbeautyIcouldhardlybreathe.He ripped his mouth awayand set his forehead againstmine.

“MaJolie,Ihavemissedyour love,” he whisperedagainst my lips. Tearsprickledagainstmyeyes,andI caught his gaze. His eyes

were golden yellow set withbrown flecks that seemed toglowinthislight.

I nipped his lips andnuzzled into his neck. “I’vemissed you, too, Alec. I hadno idea how much until youwerestandinginfrontofme.”Hecurledhisfingers intothenape of my neck and histhumbssweptacrossmychinandlips.

His eyes seemed tocatalogue every facet of myface the way only an artistwho’s extremely focused ondetailscould.“Youhavebeensad,chérie.Why?”

I shook my head, notwantingtoget intoit.“Later.Fornow,areyouhungry,canIgetyouanything?”

Alec pressed his lengthfirmly intomy center. Beads

ofexcitementroaredfromthemiddle out and through mylimbs. I tightened my legs,bringinghimcloser.Hiseyesflashed with an intensity I’dmissed. It was the look of aman who is desperate,Desperatetohavehiswoman.“I have only the hunger totaste your sweet sex, majolie.” And there was myfilthyFrenchman.

Without further ado, he

ledmetomysuiteandkickedthe door shut. He placed aknee to the bed and thenfoldedover, lettingmedownasifIwasaspreciousasoneofhispaintings.

“Undress for me,” Alecsaid then stood. “I want towatchyouexposeyourlight.”

The way he spoke, thefire in his gaze, sent mespinning with lust. With

absolutelyno finesse, I lifteduptomykneesandpulledthetiny dress I wore over myhead. I wore nothingunderneath, remembering hispreference for little clothingandthelackofbarriers.

“Vousêtesdevenueplusbelle.”Alec spoke in Frenchand the words slid along thesurfaceofmy skinas ifhe’dtouchedme,lightasafeatherbut just as tantalizing. Even

with my French rusty andlacking experience, I knewwhathe said.He toldme I’dgottenmorebeautiful.

I shookmyhead. “Onlythroughyoureyes.”

He cupped my cheek.“Youdonot seeyourself thesame way the world seesyou.”

I laughed. “You are nottheworld,Frenchie.”

AlectappedmylipandIsucked his thumb into mymouthandswirledmytonguearound the digit. His eyesdarkened, the light no longershowing the golden tone ofhisambergaze.

“Oh chérie, have youforgotten what you learnedduring our time?” hewhispered,strippingoffhist-shirt, exposing the squarepecsI loved tosinkmyteeth

into and the washboard absthat my fingers itched totrace.

“Ihaven’tforgottenhowmuch I love your body.” Iretorted, fisting my hands atmysides,mybreastsheaving,becoming heavy and needy.Bothhishandscameoutandlifted the twin globes,squeezing and molding themas if he was reacquaintinghimselfwithmybody.Acry

spilledfrommylipswhenheswiped both thumbs acrossthe turgid peaks. He inhaleddeeplywhenclosetomyneckasifbreathinginmyscent.

Closing my eyes, Imoaned and tipped my headback in offering. I could feelthe edges ofmy hair trailingalongtheexposedskinofmybum.“Iloveyourtouch.”

Awetsensationcovered

myrightbreastandthenIfeltthe nip of his teeth pinchingthe skin. A fresh bout ofdesire leapt from where heplucked and sucked straightdown the length ofmy torsoto settle hotly between mythighs.My clit throbbed andached,primedforthemomenthe’d touch me there. And Iknew he would. If I knewanythingaboutAlecDubois,Iknewhelovedthetasteofmeonhistongue.

For long minutes, Alecfeasted on my breasts,sucking,plucking,massaging,and biting down on the tipsuntiltheywereripe,red,littlestrawberries ready to beeaten.Myhips rotated in theair, searching for something,anythingtorelievetheache.

“Alec,” I pleaded, andhegrinnedagainstmynipple,sucked hard, and then pulledaway. When I opened my

eyes, I knew what he musthave seen. A woman whowasreadytobefucked.OnlyAlec didn’t fuck, he madelove and told me sorepeatedly.

His hands went to hisjeans where he unbuttonedand pushed them down histoned thighs. The thick knobof his cock was weeping atthetipwhenitsprangfreeofits denim confinement. I

leanedforwardandlickedthepearly drop, groaning at therememberedtaste.

“Oui, mon amour, taketheedgeoffsoIcangorgeonyou.”

I was on my hands andknees when he tunneled hisfingers into my hair andthrust intomymouth. I tookhimdeep, sodeepheslippeddown my throat the way he

liked. “Si bon.” So good, hesaid.Andhewasn’twrong.Itwas unbelievably good to beservicing Alec. His taste, hisscent, reminded me ofamazing times, of great sex,and a lot of laughter, love,and friendship. All of thethings I needed in my lifenow. With Alec, I wasn’talone.

I doubled my efforttakinglonglapsofhislength,

and worshiping the tip,suckingeverydropofprecumlike a kitty with tiny littleflicks to a saucer of cream.He watched me take hislengthoverandover.WhenIlooked up frommy position,his nostrils were flared, hiseyes intense half-lidded slits,his mouth a firm slash,twisting into ecstasy as hepowered into my mouth. Itookwhathegave and lovedeverysecondofit.Then,with

no warning, he never didwarnbefore,hepresseddeepand filled my mouth to thebrim with his essence. Hotbursts of his seed rusheddownmythroat. Iswallowedreverently, milking him forevery drop until his handturned into a fist at the rootsofmyhairandpulledmeoffhiscock.

“Oh,majolie,I’mgoingto show you again how to

love yourself, and others, byloving you this night. That,my beautiful Mia, was aprefectstart.”

***

We’d just exited theshower after two rounds ofserious fucking. “Thank youfor coming tonight,” Icuddled into his bare chest.

His fingertips traced alongmy arm and the ball of myshoulderinpatternsIcouldn’tplace.Didn’ttryto.

Alec rubbed his jawalong the crownofmyhead.“Whyareyousoalonewhenyou are paid to be withsomeone?” he asked. Thetone was inquisitive notaccusatory.

Snugglingin,Ilickedhis

nipple thenkissed it sweetly.“I don’t sleep with all myclients,Alec.”

His arms tightenedaround me. “Vraiment?”Really?Heasked.

That brought out achuckle. “Really,” Ianswered.

“I do not understandthis.Why, if they are payingyou tobewith them,areyou

not with them in the mostbeautifulwaypossible?”

Again I giggled into hiswarm skin. Of course, hewould lack understanding.“You know I didn’t have tohavesexwithyou.”

Hiseyesnarrowed,andIcould tell he was trying toworksomethingout.“Chérie,youandIweremeanttoloveone another. It was never a

question,oui?”

“Oui, but that isn’t thecasewitheveryone,Alec.I’mnotpaidtofuck.”

“I do not fuck.” Hereiteratedstrongly,hisvoiceagrowl and something I knewverywell.

I lifted my head up,placedmyhandsonhischestand set my chin on top ofthem. “I know. And I adore

that about you.” His handstrailedupanddownmybackas if he were paintingsomething.ForallIknew,hecould have been. He was anartist.“Youtaughtmetolovethe one you’rewith, but thatdoesn’t always mean youhavesexwiththem.”

His eyes narrowed andhe looked positivelyaffronted. “Why not?Everyone needs to release

tensions, connect physically,and making love is the bestwaytodothat.”

Of course, my Frenchiewouldseeit thatway.“Well,theclientafteryouwasgay.”Ishrugged.

“Sothenyoucouldhavemade love to both of them.”He pulled me completely ontop of him, slid his handsdowntomyassandseparated

my legs so I was straddlinghim.Hewashardeningunderme. Alec was, by far, themostvirilemanI’devermet.Whenhesaidhewouldmakelovetomeallnight,Ihadnodoubt that I’d pass out fromneeding sleep before hestoppedlovingme.

Licking a trail fromonenippletothenext,Isuckedontheneglectedflatdiscuntil ithardened. “That would have

been an experience, but itwasn’tlikethat.”

“I’ll never understandthat.Continue.”

Tilting my head to theside, I used one finger andtraced his mustache andbeard. His long russet lockshaddriedandwerewavyandsexy in a way that wasintensely masculine. “Thisguy I’m with now, the

baseball player. At first, IthoughtImightwanttosharea bed with him, but he’s inlovewithsomeoneelse.”

“Ah, and the otherwoman does not share. Thenwhy did he need you?” Heaskedthoughtfully,butitwashard topayattentionbecauseat thatmomenthedecided topress a finger deep into mysexfrombehind.Heleisurelyfucked me with one finger

untilIwaswetenoughthathecould fit another. “Youweresaying,” Alec said with agrin, knowing exactly whathe was doing to me. Sexybastard.

“Uh,yeah.Well,hewaskind of an ass whenwemetand then I helped, oh God,fuck…”I dropped my headand pushed back letting hisfingershit just the right spot.“Uh,getthegirlhewanted.”

He clucked his tongue.“Pity. More for me,” heuttered thenpushedhigh intome with those two thickfingers.Ipressedbackagainstthem moaning and gasping,the sensation splintering allaround me. Then I put mymouthonhischestandlickedand nipped while he got meoff with his fingers. When Iwas crying out, he rolledmeover and kissed a path downmy body. “Want your crème

onmytongue,majolie.Needto remember your taste.Going to eat you now. Areyoudonetellingstories?”

Telling him stories. Hethought talking was tellingstories. Damn, the man wascute and fucking talented.Then Ipressed intomyheelsand pushed up into his face.He growled and stuck histongue as far insideme as itwouldgo.Hishandsheldmy

lower lips apart and herubbed his lips, mustache,and beard all over my sex.“Wantyourscentallovermewhile I sleep. Then I’ll havebeautifuldreamsofmysweettasting, beautiful, Mia. Oui,majolie?”

“Fuck yes,” I groanedandcriedoutwhenhesuckedextra hard on my o-trigger,sendingmetotheverytopofthecrest.

Alec took his timebetweenmylegs.Hesucked,fucked me with his finger,nipped at me with his teeth,and even gave me a rosyquarter sized hickey on myinnerthigh.Overandoverhebrought me to the verypinnacle of release, thenbacked off until I was soexhausted and out of mymindwithneedIbeggedandpleaded for him to finishmeoff. My sex was so wet I

could feel the slippery juicessliding between the crack ofmyass.Alecdidn’t let it fly.He swooped down with theflat of his tongue and teasedthe tiny rosette I knew heloved, laid his mouth wideover my opening and drank.Hischeekshollowedout,myback arched, and then hegratedhis teethalongmyclitand I shot into thestratosphere bucking like awild woman. While I was

coming, he slipped on acondomandspearedhisthickcock deep into me and rodemehard, harder than he everhad before. We were wild,out of control, and fuckinglike we would never getanotherchance.Atonepoint,he pulled my legs up high,cutting my body in half andpoweredintome.

“Loveyourbody.”

“Loveyoursex.”

“Loveyourheart.”

“Loveyoursoul.”

“Loveyou,Mia.”

Except Alec said all ofthosethingsinFrench.

What we did thatevening was scalding hot, itwas devoted, and it was oneofthemostpassionatesexualexperiences of my life. He

brought us both to releaseagain, and when the lastvestigesofhisessencepouredintome, he collapsed againstmy body. Together, wepassed out, still connectedphysically, emotionally, andmentally.

Chapter8

Iwoke in themiddle ofan orgasm. My legs wereclamped around Alec’s headas he took me there. Thenwithout even aword, a goodmorning, he rolled on acondom. I’d lost count ofhowmanyweused thenightbefore. He inched his wayinto overused swollen tissue.Still, it felt divine. My poor

hoo-hah tensed and pulsedlike it had been through abattle andwon. This time hemade slow, careful love tome. We both knew it wouldbe the last time, but Iwouldn’t say forever. I’dlearnednottothinkthatway.Between seeing Wes againandnowAlec,neverwasnota word I’d keep in myvocabulary when it came tothemenIcaredfor.

Once we were done, hemethodically put on hisclothes. “I enjoyed this nightwithyou,majolie.Whenyouaretownagain,orareinneedof a reminder that you areloved,youwillcall,oui?

I nodded, got up andthrew on a silk robe I hadhanging over the door whilehe pulled his hair into amessymanbun.God,Ilovedtheman bun. I leaned up on

my toes and kissed him. Hewrappedhisarmsaroundmybodyandheldmeclosewhilewekissedforlongmoments.

He pulled back andkissedmynose.“Ihavemuchwork to do or I would feaston your flesh all day.” Hecupped my cheeks andfocused his yellow gaze allovermy face. “Sadness doesnot become you.This reasonyouaresad,isitaman?”

I pinched my lipstogether and thought back tothat phone call. God, how Iwished I’d never made thatcall. I could have just textedhim and then we’d bothblissfullygoon,knowingthattheotherstillfeltitdeep.Andhere I was now, doing thesame thing he was doing.Losing myself in anotherman’s body, in sex. Reallygood sex, toe curling, mind-blowing sex, but it still

wasn’twith theoneIwantedittobewith.

“Yeah,itwasaman,butyou know, having you here,helpingMason get his girl, Irealize that it’sallpartof theprocess.Myjourneythisyearis longand ifat theend, I’mmeant to be with a certainman then I will.” Alecnodded and I smiled, thethoughttakingwings.

Alec pushed back myunruly hair and caressed theside of my face. “Ma jolie,you are very young. Giveyourselftimetoenjoylifeandall its offerings.” He pressedhis forehead to mine.“Including the pleasures ofthe flesh,oui?” I knewwhathe was saying and itreinstated my belief that thisyearwasaboutme.Notaboutme and someone else. Itwasaboutme savingmydadand

findingmyself.Whereverthattook me is wherever it tookme. He was right. I wasyoungandnotinacommittedrelationship and neither wasWes.Icouldn’tfaultthemanfor wanting to find aconnectiontosomeone,tonotbealoneevenforashorttimehe shared his body withsomeone else. I’d done that,too. And you know what, itfelt amazing. I felt amazing.Refreshed, ready to take on

whatever life was going tothrowmyway.

“You know, you’repretty amazing, Frenchie.”Alec grinned that drop deadsexysmileandIswearIfeltitinmyclit.

“This I know, chérie.”Heleanedforwardandkissedme softly. “Only you, youneedtorememberyoutooareagifttothisworld.”

Alec always had a waywithwords.Wordsthatcouldsoothe, entice, and alwaysworked their magic on mypsyche.

I led him by the handinto the living room portionof the suite. It was far toomuchtohopethatMasonandRachel would already be outfor the day. Then again, Ishould have just looked outthe window. Rain. Heaps of

rain smattered against thesliding door. That meantpracticewould be delayed orcanceled.

Rachel andMasonwereboth completely dressed andsitting at the dining areahaving what looked to belunch, not breakfast. Fuck,whattimewasit?

Mason’s eyes caughtsight ofAlec and thenme in

myrobe,hairamess,cheeksprobablyrosyfromtherecentorgasm, basically my entirelook screaming I-was-just-fucked.Masongrinned.“Heysweetness,sleepwell?”

That’s when Alecjumped in. “I wouldn’t callwhat we did sleep,” hewaggled his browsseductively. My Frenchmanwas incorrigible. Racheldidn’tsayaword.Hermouth

waswideopen,herforkheldmid-airclosetoherfacewitha strawberry sitting on thetineswaitingtobeeaten.

“Uh, this is Alec, that’sMason and his girlfriendRachel.”

Rachel’s hand camedown and the fork clatteredagainst the plate. “Uh, hi?”she said. That was definitelythe first time I’d seen the

professional put togetherwoman totally at a loss forwords that didn’t involve alarge, sexy as sin baseballplayer.

Masongaveachinlift.Iturned Alec around and ledhim to the door.Weweren’tcompletelyoutofsightbuthenever cared about whatpeople thought. Instead ofwalking out the door, hepulled me against his body,

placed one hand on my assandoneatmynape,crushingmetohislengthyformbeforehe devoured my mouth.Tongue,lipsandteethparriedand danced the mostdelectableofgoodbyekisses.

Finally when we bothcouldn’tbreatheheletmego.“Je t’aime, Mia.” Alec said,his tonefilledwiththeloveIknewhehadforme.Iheldaplace in his heart and I

always would. That wasenoughforme.

“Iloveyoutoo,Alec.”

I watched him until heentered the elevator. “Untilnext time, ma jolie,” he saidas the doors closed behindhim.Then I turned andwentbacktothetable.WhenIgotthere,Masonhandedmehalfof his club sandwich. I satdown and took a bite,

suddenlyravenous.

Neither of them spokeuntilMason turned his entirebody to me, elbow to thetable.“Soyoulovethisguy?”He hooked a thumb behindhim.

Inodded.“Yeah,butnotin the way you’re thinking.I’mnot inlovewithhim.Wejust have something. Whenwe’re together, we’re

together.It’sjustus.Butmostofthetime,we’renot.”

Rachel closed her eyesand then pursed her lips. “Idon’t get it. We heard himsay he loved you. And inFrench.Ohmygod, thatwassexy.” She gasped whenMason’s burning gaze shotherway.“Sorry.”Sheshovedapieceoffruitintohermouthandlookeddownatherplate.

Pushing a piece of hairback,andpullingmylegontothe chair, I focused on mytwonewfriendsanddecidedIhadnothinghide.Ineededtobe me warts and all. If theywere my friends, they’dacceptmeforwhoIwas,notwho they thought I was.“Alecwas a client.Wewentthere.”Imadeahandgesturethatbothofthemunderstood.“Enjoyedthehelloutofit.Hetaughtmealotaboutpeople,

about loving myself andothers. So yeah, I love him.Just not in the ‘I’m going tomarry him, want to have hisbabies, or be his girlfriend’type way. More like…” Ithoughtaboutitforamomentwhile looking at the rainpelting the balcony. “Morelike ‘I really love itwhenhefucksmeintonextweekandIcare about him and love himlikeafriend’.Doesthatmakesense?”

BothMason andRachelshook their heads and Igroaned. “I can’t explain it.Just,don’tworryaboutit.”

“From the sound of it,the fuck you into next weekpart sure as hell happened.Damn girl, I rolled over andfucked Rach so many timeslast night I think my dickmight have been sprainedlistening to you take it overandoveragain.”Masonjoked

boldly. Rachel and I bothsimultaneouslysockedhiminthe arm. “Ouch!” He rubbedhis arms. “You enjoyed it,”he pointed atRachel and hercheeksturnedamightyshadeofred.

I polished off thesandwich and got up. “Needtoshower.”

“Smell you later…sexfiend.” Mason said when I

startedwalkingaway.

“Takesonetoknowone,fuck-face!” I hollered back.Maybe Mason would be myboy version of Ginelle backhome.Thatcouldbenice.

“You both are likechildren,”wasthelastthingIheard Rachel say as I closedthedoortomyroom.

***

Over the next coupledays,MasonandtheRedSoxwon their games. Everyonewasinthebestofmoodsanditshowed.WhenwegotbacktoBoston,westeppedofftheplane, intoacab,andover totheBlackRosepubwherehisbrother Brayden worked thebar. It was time to celebrateand the team was ready. Atruckloadof guyspouredout

of cabs and town cars. Thesecond we entered, Braydenwhistled over the bar. Apretty waitress went over tosomething that looked like astereoandhitabutton.

“Weare thechampions”by Queen filled the bar. Itwas still early, andon topofthat a weeknight, so the barwaspracticallydeadatfourinthe afternoon, but that didn’tstop the team. They were

readytoslugbacksomebeersand let off some steam.They’dbeenplayinglikerockstarsonthefieldandtheyhada few days break to enjoy.Todaywas time to celebrate.TheWAGs found theirplacecuddlingnextto,orinthelapoftheirchosenplayerandthedrinkingstarted.

Several hours into thenight and I was feelingmightyfine.

“Mace, I’m going tohead home,” Rachel said,leaning close but not tooclose tocause suspicion.Theteamdidn’tknowthathewasbangin’ Rachel and not me.All but Junior believed thesham.

“Baby no, meet me atmyplace?”Mason suggestedwithapairofhisbestpuppydogeyes.Ihadtogiveittoawomanthatcoulddenyaman

what he wanted with thatlook.

Rachel shook her head.“Got to work tomorrow, Ineed to do laundry and befreshfortheday.I’llcomebythehouseforanearlylunch?”

Mason nodded and puthishandatherneck.Hereyeswidened and so did mineglancing around to see ifanyone was watching. They

weren’t. Most the crew wasalready three sheets to thewindanyway.

“Mace,” I warned,nervous he was going tobreak character. Instead, hejust squeezed her neck andthen patted her on theshoulder.

“Miss you, baby. Seeyoutomorrow.”

Rachelsmiledsweetlyat

Macethenhuggedme.“Takecareofhim,willya?”

I looked at her withmock seriousness, put myhandatmybrowandsalutedher.“Yes,Ma’am!”

“Children.Iswearbeingaround you two is likehanging out with twenty-year-oldchildren,”sheshookher head and walked off.Mason watched her ass the

entiretime.Rachelhadaniceass.Small,butsheworkedit.

“Fine fucking ass thatwoman. Damn, I’d like totake a bite out of it rightnow.” He growled and thenslugged back the rest of hisbrew.“Let’sgetshitfacedandtakeacabback?”

Brayden came over tooursideofthebar.“Howyoutwo doin’?” he said his

coppery hair glinting red offthe neon pink bar lightsbehindhim.

“We’re ready to getserious. Shots and beerchasers. Mia, we’re about toplayagame!”

I shimmied on my seat.“Love games. What’s itcalled, maybe I’ve heard ofit?”

“Calledbullshit.”

“Bring it on, ball boy.MygirlfriendGinandIwrotethe book on this fuckinggame.Neverlost!”

Mason grinned amocking evil little smirk.“Line‘emup,bro,”hesaidtohisbrother.

Since Mace wasthrowingdownthegauntlet,IunzippedmyRedSoxhoodieand put it around my chair

leavingmeinatighttank.Mygirlswereondisplayinabigway.Heglanceddownatmytitsandgroaned.

“Thatisnotplayingfair.Whatareyoudoing,tryingtodistractme?”HeaccusedandIlaughed.

“Well, we’re going toneedsomemoreplayers.”

Junior and Kris weresitting close. We brought

them into the game andMason explained the rules.Then the drinkingcommenced.

***

“OnceuponatimeIwaswalking through the woodsand I stepped in some bearshit!” Mason said. Usuallythe stories were more

involved, really creative, butwe’dbeenatthegameawhileandwewereall losingprettyregularly.

I was Bear Shit. Sowhen he said bear shit I hadtorespondwith,“Bullshit!” Iyelled, slapping my hand onthebar.

“Who shit?” Mace’shead slammed back as ifpunched.

“Baby shit!” I snickeredandpointedtoKris.

The way the gameworked is,youstartedwithastory,blamed“shit”ononeoftheplayer’s fakenames, thenthey claimed “Bullshit” andthe accuser would respondwith “Who shit?” or someversion of the same. Theperson accused would blamesomeone else. Then the newaccused would claim

“bullshit.”And so on and soon. I was a master at thisgame having played endlessrounds with Ginelle growingup, but that didn’t stop mefrom drinking the entiregame, right along with thepeoplewhomessedup.

“Uh, uh…shit, I forgotwhatIwassupposedtosay!”Krispouted.

“Drink!” Both Mason

andIroaredandpointed.Weall did a shot because it wasmore fun to drink togetherthan one at a time and wecontinuedwiththegame.

Bylastcall,MasonandIwere blotto, barely holdingoneanotherup.We’dnothaddinner, but had munched onsome fries and nachosthroughout the game. I triedtoslambackwatereverytimeBrayden put a glass in front

of me, but I’m certain forevery glass ofwater I drank,I’d had three beers and acoupleshotstoboot.

Braydengotusbothintoa cab, paid the driver fromMason’s wallet, patted usboth on the heads, and toldthedriverwheretotakeus.

We weren’t really surehow we got home, but therewas a lot of singing baseball

tunes,cussing,andhollering.

Eventually, we made itback to Mason’s house. Westumbledupthewalk.

“Howthefuckdowegetin,” he slurred and leanedheavilyagainstthedoor.

Iswayedonmyfeetandlookedaround.Thestreetwasreallypretty.Blurryswathsofcolor streamed past myvision. The wind blew my

hair and kissed my skin,makingthehairsonmyarmsprickleenticingly.

“I love your street. It’slikeart,allcolorfulandhalosof light,” I moved to stepdown but Mason caught myarm before I tumbled downthestairs.Hepushedmebackagainstthedoor.

“Keys!” he said as ifhe’d won the lottery. He

pushedahandintohispocketand pulled out a set of keysshowing theprize. “Yes!” hepumpedafistintheairandItried to high five him but itdidn’t really work. It endedup being more a slap of hiscurledfist.

Together, we struggledtogetthedooropenandthenessentially tumbled into thefoyer drunkenly. With effortweleanedononeanotherand

madeourwayupthestairs.

“Shhh, you might wakeup Rachel,” Mason said,bumping into the wall andtakingmewithhim.

I concentrated hard andpushed him forward. “She’snothere!”Iremindedhim.

Hisentirefacewentsad.“Ohman,thatsuckssobad.Iwantedtofuckher.Man,”heslidahandoverhisface.

“Aww, it’s okay. Youcan totally fuck hertomorrow!” I offered,stumbling forward. Hepressed me into the wall hischestcrushingmine.

“You fucking smell sogood,Mia.DidIevertellyouthat?”

I shook my head andblinkedseveraltime.“Nobutthat’ssupernice.Youshould

benicemoreoften.Ilikeyou,like you’re awesome likablewhen you’re not adouchebag.”

He put his hands to myhips and held me close. “ImissRachel,”hesaid,leaningintomychest,hisheadonthesoftpillowsofmybreasts.

Bringing up my arms, Ipatted his back and ran mynails through his silky hair.

“It’s okay. She’ll be heresoon. She’s gonna make uslunch probably. She’s reallynice like that,” I said butdidn’t have any idea what Iwas saying. If I had I’dknownwhatI’dsoundedlike,basicallyanuneducatedidiot,I might have tried hard tothink straight but the liquorwas taking its toll. ItdawnedonmethattechnicallyIwasajunior college dropout butwhatever. That shit didn’t

matteranyway.Iwasmakinga hundred G’s a year. Amonth.Whateveritwas.Alotoffuckingmoney.

While I was thinkingabout my station in life,Mason had moved his handsup and was squeezing bothmy breasts, looking down atthem in complete awe.“You’vegot thebest fuckingtits.Rachhassmalltits,butIlike 'em. Yours are world

class fuck me titties. Can Ifuckyour titties?Thatwouldbe awesome!” He screamedhappily and I pushed himaway. He hit the other wallandbarelystayedstanding.

“No, stupid.Youcannotfuckmytits.Andthankyou.”I smiled wide and held myown boobs appreciating theirsize and weight. “They aresomegoodtits.Menlike‘ema lot. It’s one of my best

features.”

Mason shook his headvigorouslyandsomanytimesthat, in my drunken state, Iworrieditwouldbreakoff.

“No,no,no.You’vegotgreattitsandassforsure.Butyour hair and eyes couldmake men worship at yourfeet.Youreyesarelikegreendiamonds,” he came closeandheldmy faceup into the

hall light. “Yep, like fuckingjewels. You have jeweleyes!”Heexclaimedandthenrubbedhis jawintomyneck.His body seemed then toslump against me. “I’mtired.”

When he said it, Ithought about it. My limbsbecame really heavy, as if Iwascarryingaroundaboxofrocksineachhandandhadatwo tonweight onmy chest.

The weight was Mason whowas leaning his entire bodyagainst mine, practicallysleeping. I could tell by thetiny puffs of air that he wasgoing to fall asleep standingup.

“No,wehavetogetyouin the bed.” I pulled againsthimandwebothmaneuveredsloppily to his giant bed.“Nowgetready,”Itoldhim.

He lifted his chin andpulledoffhisshirt.Fuckme.His chest was golden andmuscled to perfection. IthoughtbacktomyFrenchie.HehadareallyhotbodyjustlikeMason.“Yourturn.”

For some reason thisrequest, in my current state,did not sound odd. I pulledoffmy tank then togetherweunbuttonedourjeansandslidthem down. Iwas inmy bra

andpantiesandhewasinhisboxerbriefs.

“Are we gonna fuck?”Heaskedswayingonhisfeet.I glanced down at hisequipment. Nothing washappening.

“No! Stupid ass,” Ipulled back the covers.“Besides, you have whiskeydick,” I giggled and cuddledinto the covers. The second

myheadhit thepillow Iwasfallingasleep.

Mason rummagedaround, pulled back thecovers and climbed in. “I nonot have disky wick,” heclaimed and I laughed hardsnuggling deeper into mycave of blankets. “I meandick whiskey,” he slurredthengrabbedmebythewaist,andploppedmeonhischest.“NiteRach,”hesaid,holding

meclose.

“Not Rach. I’mMia,” Irubbed into his warm chestenjoyingtheheat.

“Mmm ‘k, night, Mia.”Hesaidandwebothfeelintoa sleep of the dead, or moredistinctly, the sleep of thedrunk.

***

Vaguely, I could hearnoises downstairs. I figuredmaybe Mason was makingbreakfast. My head waspounding like an entiremarchingbandwasplayingaJohn Phillips Souza tune inmy head. Instead of openingmy eyes, I snuggled deeperinto the warmth thatsurroundedme.

“Oh man, fucking hell,

myhead,” I heardMace say.Only it wasn’t fromdownstairs or across theroom,ornext tomybedside.Itwas a deep rumble againstmy ear, adding to the musicinmyownhead.

I blinked several timesand opened my eyes. At thesame time I started to pullaway from thebody Iwas inbedwith,thecomforterfelltomy hips and left me half

nakedinmybra.

“What the…” I saidlooking down at a barechested Mason who wasslowlyopeninghisowneyes.

Of course, none of thismade a lick of sense. MyheadroaredandIpressedmypalms to my templesdesperately trying to relievethe pressure while trying torememberwhathappened.

That’s when the dooropened and a chipper, suit-clad Rachel entered saying,“Wakeupsleepyhead…”andthen she saw me, and Macesat up, the blanket revealinghisbarechest.“OhmyGod.”Tears instantlyprickedathereyes and a delicate handcoveredthehorrorwantingtospew from her lips. “No…”she uttered and her entirebodytrembled.

Mason looked at me inconfusion then Rachel andjumpedoutof thebedas ifamatch had been struck underhisass.Andthenitgotworsebecausehewaswearingonlyhisunderwear.Rachelmadeagurglingchokedsound,andIshookmyhead.

“NoRach,noplease.It’snotwhatitlookslike,”Isaid,gettingoutofthebedstupidlycladonlyinawhitelacewisp

offabric thatcouldhardlybecalledpantiesanddidn’tatallcover my ass, as well as thedemi-cup matching bra thatmybreastsalmostfelloutof.If I leaned forward, I’m sureI’d have a nip slip. I yankedat thecomforterandpulleditagainstmybody.

Rachelpointedatme.“Itlooks like you had sex withmyboyfriend.Which IguessIshouldhaveassumedwould

happen seeing as you’re awhore for hire!” shescreamed her hateful words,and they hit my heart andsoulexactlyasintended.Likea fucking knife shreddingthroughmebitbybit,slicebyslice.

“Rachel, nothinghappened!” Mason walkedover to her and she held ahandoutinastoppingmotioninfrontofherform.

“I cannot believe Itrusted you. A player. Ithought you’d changed. Youdidn’t change. You just hidyour true self really well.”Shegroanedandtearsslippeddownherface.“Iwasinlovewithyou,Mason!IwasgoingtotellyouwhenMialeftanditwas justus!”shescreamedandsobbedat the same time.Then she turned on her heelandranoutoftheroom.

“You deserve eachother!” she screamed behindher.

All we could hear washerheelshittingeachstepandthenthedoorslammingshut.

Chapter9

Mason ran his fingersthroughhishairandpulledattheroots.“Fuckme,fuckme,fuck me. I can’t believe weslepttogether.Shit!”hepacedtheroom.

Ireachedformytankonthe floor, pulled it over myhead, and then grabbled formy pants. When he was

turned away, I slid them upand over my hips. “Mason,wedidnotsleeptogether.”

He stopped and lookedatmeasifI’dsaidsomethingsupremelystupidandpointedtothebed.“Um,hello?”

I blew out a tortured,annoyed breath. I neededcoffee and a handful ofibuprofen and quickly. Thetiny men doing construction,

drilling into my brain withtheir tiny little tools, whilelaughing at me for drinkingsomuchlastnight,neededtogo away so I could thinkstraight. “No. We slepttogether, but we didn’t havesex. We were drunk asskunks.Believeme,I’dknowif I’d gotten laid and I’m ahundred percent positive Ididn’t.”

Helookedatmefromtip

totoe.“Yeah,youwould,”hegrinnedandIcringed.“Sorry.Fuck!” He said againobviously feeling like a jerk.“How the hell am I going toget her to believe me? Sheknowsmyhistory,Mia.Thisis just like thefuckedupshitI’d do before her.” Heslumpedandsatdownonthebed.

I sat down next to him.“Okay, this is what we’re

going to do. We’re going toshower, get some food,coffee,anddrugsintous,”hiseyebrows rose. “IbuprofenorTylenol dumbass, and thenwe’re going to call her up.You’re going to grovel andexplain that we were justdrunk, didn’t fuck, andthough it looked really bad,nothing happened butsleepingnexttooneanother.”

He pushed his thumbs

intohistemples,hisbighandspreadingwide. “I rememberfondling your tits and askingto fuck them.” He groanedandlookedatmeguiltily.

“Well,don’ttellherthatpart. That was just stupiddrunk behavior and no oneelsesawit.Harmless.”

“Yeah, harmless,” hegrumbled. His shouldersslumpedover;heputhishead

in his hands, and elbows onhisknees.Hewastheperfectvision of a man who’d losthis way, who thought theworldwasover.

I slid my hand up anddown his warm bare back.“Do you love her?” I asked.Hisheadshotupandhisgazefocused intently onmine.Heclosed his eyes and noddedsolemnly. “You have to tellher, Mace. It might be the

only way to get yourself outofthisbind.”

He blew air out hismouth,hischeekspuffingoutwith the effort. “She won’tbelieve me. I know Rach.She’ll think I’m saying it tosave face. I should have toldher the moment it hit me.Thenshemightbelieveit.”

Mason loved Rachel.Will wonders never cease?

The chauvinistic,womanizing,playerhadcomea long way since the day Iarrived almost a month ago.“Whendidyouknow?”

He stood up and startedpacing thenwent over to thewindow and observed thestreetbelow.“Thatfirstnightwemadelove.Itwas…itjustwas, you know. It’s like Iknew then that was the onlywoman I reallywanted to be

with forever.And I fucked itup. Christ!” He pulled backand slammed a flat hand tothe wall. Thank God, hedidn’tpunchitorhe’dbeoffthemoundfortheforeseeablefuture.

I walked over to Maceand set my forehead to hisback. “We’re going to fixthis.You’ll see. Itwill allbeokayintheend.”

He shook his head.“Whydoyoubelievethat?”

“Becausethereissimplynootheroption.Ifshe’sitforyou,wehavetofindawaytomake her see that. We’llfigure it out. Together, we’llget your girl back. You’vegottotakechancesinlife.Gothewayoftheunknown.”

“Thanks, Mia. You’re agoodfriend.”

“I know,” I said thenbumpedhishipwithmyown.“Sofirststep,showers,meds,food with tons of water, inthat order.” I held out myhand for him to shake. Hesmirked at my outstretchedlimb probably thinking myanticsweresilly.“Deal?”

Hegrabbedmyhandandshookit.“Deal.”

***

GettingaccesstoRachelwas a lot harder than Ithought it would be. I wasleaving in two days andMason had yet to talk to theelusive blonde. Every call Imade to her went straight tovoicemailwhereIrepeatedlybegged for her to call meback, to callMason back, tolisten to one of us. Nothing

but crickets.Thewomanhada resolve of steel. I wasstarting to believe that shereally wouldn’t give Masonanotherchanceandthatbrokemyheart.

EventhoughRachelsaidsome pretty hurtful things tome, I could understand whyshe said them. When you’refaced with losing everythingyou’veeverwanted,youlashout. It’s normal and the

brunette in bed with yourboyfriend is a pretty goodtarget. I deserved whateverandmoreofwhat shehad tosay.ThoughIdidn’tlikethatshebelievedIwasawhore.Itwas something I, too,struggled with as an escort.One who had sex with herfirst twoclients.Of course, Ididn’t with the last two, butshethoughtdifferently.

MycellphonerangandI

pickeditup.

“Hello?”

“Hey doll-face are youreadytomoveontoyournextclient?” Aunt Millie’s voicesoothed over some seriouslygrated nerves like a calminglotion. The last couple ofdays I’d felt like crapknowing that Mason andRachelwerehurting,tryingtoaccept my part in it, and do

whatIcouldtofixit,butnotknowinghow.

I sighed. “Actually,yeah,thesoonerthebetter,”Isaid for the first time. I’dnever wanted to move on asbadly as I did right now.Escapingtheproblemseemedlikeagoodideaatthetime.

“What’s the matter,honey?Thebaseballhotshotnottreatingyouwell?”

Ishookmyhead,butshecouldn’t see it. “No, he’scool.Oncewegotpastallhisscumbagwaysandhelearneda thing or two about how totreatawomanhe’sbeenalotoffun.”

Aunt Millie’s voiceturned sultry. “Ohyeah, thenI guess I should expect thatadditional payout to be sentanydaynow,eh?”

“Aunt Millie! Jeez, doyouthinkIfuckeveryoneofmyclients?”

“Honey, you’re young,gorgeous, and an escort forincredibly rich, good lookingmen. Yes, of course, I thinkyou’re going to get some ofthat.IfIwereinyourshoes,Imost certainly would. In thepast, I definitely had myshareofbeautifulrichmen.”

That’s when I sat downand worried my thumb nail.“Youwereanescort?”

“Doll-face, how do youthink I know so much aboutthisbusiness,whattocharge,whotosendmygirlstoo?Ofcourse, I had to be one inorder to run the mostsuccessful escort service inthe nation. I’ve done it allsweetie, includinghavingmyshare of clients, though back

then, theydidn’tpayextra.Itwas an expected part of theservice.Now,asyouknow,Idon’t run a brothel, I run astand up business and payUncle Sam what he’s owed.Have my books auditedregularly and keep a tightship. If my girls want to gothat extra step, it is expectedthat the men willaccommodate such a gift bygivingoneof theirown.Yousee,easy.”

“I see. I guess I justthoughtyouranabusiness.”

“I do. But twenty yearsago,thatshoeyou’rewearingwas on my foot. Only Iwasn’t so smart.” At this, Ipaid very close attention towhat she was saying. “Backthen, I met and fell in lovewithoneofmyclientsandhescrewedmeover.”Onecouldsaythathistorywasdefinitelyrepeating itself with her

niece, only I wouldn’t quiteagreetohavingfalleninlovewith Wes…yet. Aunt Milliecontinued,“Now,I treatmenthe same way they treatwomen. As something toenjoy while they’re there.Nothing more, nothing less.No expectations for more,just a good time and a lot ofpleasure.”

This thought had merit.It’swhatI’dbeentryingtodo

myselfandfailingatbecausemy heart was too tangled inthe particulars. With Wes, Iwas knee-deep in emotionalturmoil. With Alec, it wasfun, pleasurable andsomething I didn’t feel asthough I had left behind orlost, because it was nevermine to begin with. WhenAlec and I were together weenjoyed it immensely.Outside of our time togetherwe moved on to the next

thing that gave us joy, withabsolutelynoguiltorconcernfor the other because wedidn’t have that type ofrelationship.

IwishedIwasabletodothatwithWes.AndrightthenandthereIpromisedmyselfIwould put that wall back upandmake it so.When itwasWesandme,itwasamazing,incredibleeven.BestI’deverhadintermsofspendingtime

with someone I cared for.Alec, hewas a close second.Though with Alec, we bothjust knew it was for a shorttime, which made it wildlypassionate and something tohold on to as a beautifulmemory.WhenitwasWes,itfelt fraught with meaning,complex with feelings andemotions neither one of usshould have placed on oneanother. That’s where wewent wrong. Because Wes

and I together wereautomatically more.Somehow, some way, adelineation needed to bemade, lines cut and crossedsothatwe’dstophurtingoneanother. Of course, it wasanother problem I had nohope of solving today in mycurrent predicament withRachelandMason.

Taking a deep breath, Ifirmed my own resolve.

“You’reright.Thanksfortheadvice.”

“Of course,” she saidand I could hear her nailsclacking on the keys throughthe receiver. “Sorry thebaseball thing didn’t workout. That had to be a longmonth.”

I grinned, thinking backto Alec. “Technically, I metup with an old friend when

wewereinSeattle.”

“Oh, sounds like youhadagoodtimewiththatoldfriend.”

“True.” Wanting tochange the subject because Ididn’t know what the rulewas about meeting back upwith your clients as itpertainedtothebusinesssideof things, becausewhatAlecand I had, and last month

what Wes and I had, waspersonal, private, and hadnothing to dowithme beingan escort. “You gonna keepme in suspense about whereI’mgoingnext?”

“Ohmy dear child, thisisgoingtobefun.EverbeentoHawaii?”

Surf, sand, and suntanlotion. “Seriously? I’mgoingtoHawaii?”

“Yes, doll-face and getthis you’re going to be amodel!”

I groaned. “Like I wasforAlec?”Itwasfunbeingamuse,butthatexperiencetoreintomysubconsciousandtheissues of my past. The lastthing I needed was anotherroundlikethatonthejob.

More clacking could beheardandthenshetsked.“No

honey. You’re going to bemodeling swimsuits for thistop fashioner designer inswimwear.HisnameisAngelD’Amico. He wanted youbecausehe’s followedyou inthe smut mags. Seen thatyou’re getting attention andmakingtheroundswithsomepretty big names. This doeswell for someone who’sbringing something new tothe table in his profession.Not to mention he’s making

suitsforrealwomen.”

“Howso?”

“His line doesn’t startoutatasizezero;itstartsatasix and goes up from there.Hewantsmorecurvywomaninhisads.Womenwithsomemeat on their bones. Youknowawomanwithapairofbreaststhatcouldn’tfitintoatwo inch speck of triangleshaped fabric. He loved that

you were a 36D cup in thebust and were a classichourglassshape.Hehassomemotto about proving beautycomes in all sizes orsomethingtothataffect.”

Huh. That actuallysounded really cool. Afashion designer that wasactually focused on morerealistic sizes. “Sounds likefun. Plus…Hawaii!Awesome,” I started dancing

around my room notbelieving Iwas headed to anisland.

“It’s going to be a longflight sweetheart. Six hoursfromBostonthenanotherfivefrom California. Want alayover in California for acouple days, hit your home.”IthoughtaboutWesandhowI could see him if hewasn’ton location. Then instantlytossed that idea out the

window. It would just makemore drama,more emotionalcrap to think about. No, Iwanted to have fun, enjoyHawaii. Hook up with somerandom island dude for thesole purpose of fucking hisbrains out. Yep, that wasgoingtobemynewplan.

“No, make the layoverfor two nights in Vegas so Ican seeMaddy, Ginelle, andcheck in on Dad.” Gin had

toldmethatMaddywascloseto taking theplungewithhernew beau and I thought shemightneedherbigsisaroundfor some face-to-face time.“I’ll make sure Gin sets upthe appointments again fortherequiredbeautystuff.”

AuntMillie sucked in abreath that seemed to skatethrough her teeth with ahissing sound. “About that.You’re going to have get

waxed.”

“I always do,” Iremindedher.

“No honey, I meaneverywhere. Full brazillian.You’re going to be doingbathingsuits.Therecanbenotuffs of hair peeking out oragainst the fabric showingwhen you’re shooting in theocean.”

I groaned. “That sucks.

Andit’sgoingtohurt.”Itwasas if I could already feel thestrips of sticky goo beingslathered onto my sensitivepartsthenbeingrippedaway.Ouch!

“Yes, doll-face it does.But the good news, thedesigner is a fifty year oldItalian. Married to an ex-model named Rosa whoworks with the girls. Andyou’re not going to be on

point every second. You’llwork a standard day or twomodeling then havemost theweek off. I know they havearoundone to twoshootsperweekplanned.Therestofthetime will be yours. Evenconfirmed that you’ll bestaying in a rented twobedroom bungalow right onthebeach.”

“My own place? I don’thavetostaywiththem?”

“Nopeandtheywon’tbeproviding you with clothing.That’sthetradeoff.Sinceyouwillonlybeshootingadsandmaybe attending a couplepartieswiththecoupleyou’llhave most of the time toyourself so you’ll wear whatyouwant.Yougettokeepthebathingsuitsthough.”Sweet!

Amonth inHawaii.Mylife just got a hundred timesbetter. “Think I could bring

Gin and Maddy?” From theextra twenty from Wes andAlec, I had enough saved tobe able to pay their way.They could staywithme, soreally we just needed planeticketsandfood.

“As long as you makeyour shoot days, you can dowhatever youwant. Should Ibookthemsometickets?”

“Yeah, but I’ll get back

toyouonwhen.Ineedtoseewhen Maddy’s break fromschool is for the spring andfindoutifGincantakesometime off. Oh my god! I’mgoingtoHawaiiandmysisterandmybest friendaregoingto get to come. This is thebest day ever!” I squealedinto the line and my auntlaughed.

“I’m glad you’repleased, doll-face. Just

remember that when you’regetting every speck of hairripped off your neitherregions.” I snorted in reply.“I’ll sendover an emailwithyour flight plans andinformation. You want thefirst flight of the day outagain,right?”

“Yep. I like to leaveearly.” Really I just liked tosneak out before my clientknew I was leaving. It’s

worked the last three timesandIsawnoreasontochangeitnow.

“LoveyouAuntMillie.”

“You, too, doll-face.”She said and then hung upwithoutsayinggoodbye.

Now that that wassettled,IjustneededtofindawaytogetRachelandMasonbacktogether.

JustasIwasputtingmycellinmybackpocketitrangagain.

“Hello?”

“Is this Mia Saunders?”A serious yet quiet voiceasked.

“Yes, may I ask who’scalling?”

“I’m calling from MassGeneral Hospital on

Cambridge. We’ve got yourboyfriend Mason Murphy inourER.”

“OhmyGod,”Iglancedaround, already a panicsettingin.Ispiedmypurseonthe dresser grabbed it andstarted down the stairs andoutthebuilding.“Isheokay?Whathappened?”

“He’s got some bumpsand bruises and is being

treatedforaconcussion.Wasinasmallcaraccidentwithacouple other players that arealso being treated. Can youcome down? He also askedfor someone named RachelDenton,butshe’snotpickingup.”

“I’llfindher.Ishereallyokaythough?”

“Yes, ma’am. He’ll beout of here tonight. Getting

patched up now. Doctor willprobablyreleasehiminafewhours.Wouldbegoodtohavesomeone here to pick himup.”

“Of course, of course.I’llcallhisfamily,too,justincase.”

“Sure thing,ma’am.Seeyousoon.”

I clicked off and thenstood outside on the Boston

street in front of Mason’sbrownstone and had no ideawhere the fuck to start. Ididn’t know his Dad’sinformation and Rachelwasn’t answering my calls.Then I remember his brotherworkedatBlackRose.Atthevery least, someone therewouldbeable togetme infoonhisbrother.

I called information andtheyconnectedmetothebar.

“Black Rose Pub,Brayden here,” his brotheranswered the line and I feltmykneesgoweak.

Sitting on the stoop Ipulled myself together.“Brayden, it’s Mia. Yourbrother’s been in a fenderbenderandisatMassGeneralonCambridge.”

“What?IsMasonokay?”

“He’sfine.Aconcussion

andsomebumpsandbruises.I’mheading there now, but Ineed to find Rachel, hisgirlfriend,” I said, instantlyforgettingmyrole.

“I thought youwere hisgirlfriend?” He asked with atimber to his voice that Ihadn’theardbefore.

Sighing, I stood up andputmyarmouttohailacab.“No, it’s all been for show.

Rachel, the blonde from theother night, that’s his realgirlfriendonlyshe’spissedatboth of us, thinks Masoncheated on her withme, andnow she’s not answering ourcalls.He’shurtandwantsthewomanhelovesbyhisside.Ineedtofindher.”

Then Brayden didsomething I wouldn’t haveexpected based on thecircumstances. He laughed.

Hard.

“Didyounothearme?”

“Mia, Mia, that prettyblonde that’s always hangingaround him? Big blue eyes,thin,rocksasuit?”

Finally, a cab caughtsight of me and drew up tothecurb.Igotinandpreparedto tell him to go to thehospital when Braydenchuckledandrespondedwith,

“She’s here, in the bar.Drinking like a fish. Youwantmetocutheroff?”

Looks like the universewas shining down on metonight.Must be a fullmoonorsomething.Thisshitneverhappened for me. “Yeah,waterdownherdrinks.I’llbethereinfifteen.”

“Black Rose Pub, andthere’sanextratwentyinitif

youhurry!”Itoldthecabbie.

“You got it, lady. Mywife was bitchin’ about nothaving any extra. A cooltwentywillbenice!”

“GetmethereintenandI’llgiveyouforty.”

The cab screeched outinto traffic, flipped a U-turn,and sped off toward the bar.He must have really neededthe cash because he got me

there in eleven minutes. Ididn’tmincewordsabouttheminute. I paid the tab andthrewtheextrafortyovertheseat.

“Thanks, dude!” Ihollered, jumped out of thecar, opened the door to thebar, and started scanningpatronsofthebar.

Sitting hunched over,her hair a wild mess falling

out of its complicated twist,pieces flowing all over theplace was Rachel. Drinkingawayhersorrows.

“Thank God!” I yelledand made my way over toher.

She scowled. Evenwithherfacepinchedintoascowlshe was still unbelievablybeautiful. One of thosewomen you’d see while

getting groceries or standingin line at the post office andthinkman, Iwish I could beas classy and elegant as shewas.

“Rach, thank God Ifound you!” I plopped intothestoolnexttoher.

“Whoop-dee-doo.” Herfinger went into the air andmadeamotionlikeatornado.“Can’t say I’m happy you’re

here, boyfriend stealer!”Those blue orbs narrowedlike slits at me, shootingdaggerswithextremelysharpblades. I hated that shelookedatmelikethat.

“Rach…”Itriedagain.

She cut me off. “Don’tyou get enough men withyour job? I mean, look atyou.” Her eyes seemed toscan me from head to toe.

“You’re perfect. The kind ofwomanthatdeservestoscorea man like Mason Murphy.He’s perfect, too, you know.Like and like go together.Birds of a feather and allthat.” Rachel sucked back aglug of whatever fruitymartinithingshehadinfrontof her then licked her lips.“You know,” she pointed afinger at me. “I’m glad thishappened. At least now Iknow for sure I could never

be with a man like him.Gossamer male specimenslike him, could never behappy with me. Not whentheycanhavesomeoneexoticlikeyou!”

I groaned and held hershoulders.Shebitintoherlipand finally stopped talking.“Listen to me,” I shook her.“Masonlovesyou.You!”Hereyeswidenedandshe startedto crumble before me. Her

lips pursed and those prettyeyes filled with tears thatdidn’t fall. She shook herhead, unwilling to believe.“Yes! He does, and if you’djust listen to him for fiveflippin’ seconds you’d knowit, too!Have you even takenthetimetolistentoanyofthevoicemailswe’veleft?”

That’s when she startedto tremble and shook herhead,tearsslippingdownher

cheeks. “Jesus, for a smartwoman, you can be prettyfucking dense!” I accused.Her shoulders slumped, shecrossed her arms over herchest,andcowedintoherself.

“Justleave.”

“I can’t!” I roared andlost my temper. I could feelheat blasting out of everypore as I yelled in her face.“Mason’s in the hospital and

he’sasking forhisgirlfriend.Hisrealgirlfriend.”

Chapter10

“I’m going to be sick.”Rachel’sentirefacepaledandshe put a hand over hermouth. Out of nowhere, abucket appeared in front ofher and she lost it. Heaveafter heave she hacked intothe bucket releasing all theliquor she’d imbibed thatevening. I rubbed her backand looked at Brayden. His

face said it all. Sadness andconcern.

Once Rachel was done,Brayden took the bucket andleft the main bar, headed tothe back room. I led a shakyRachel into the ladiesrestroom.Shewashedouthermouth and then I shoved astick of gum in to mask thetastes and smell. Then Ipulledoutthepinsinherhairand let her curls fall. I dug

intoherpurse;she’dnotevenremoved it from around herwhile she was drinking thenight away. I found a brushand slowly worked out eachtangle until it glistened likethespungoldIknewittobe.I handed her a wet papertowel and she removed thestreaks her mascara leftaround her eyes and cheeks.ThenIpassedhersometissuetoblowhernose.Afterthat,Irummaged through her purse

againandlocatedlipgloss.Itwasn’t much; the womanobviously didn’t carrymakeup around with her,though she did have a smallpowder compact. I handedher both of those and shefixed up her face as best shecould.

“What happened toMason?” Her words wereshaky as she started to comeback to the Rachel I had

consideredmyfriend.

“He was in a caraccident with some of theother players. He’s has aconcussionandthey’relettinghim out in a few hours. Ihaven’t seenhim.Hewantedyou, somy goal was to findyou.”

She choked back a sob.“Hewantedme?”

I nodded and put my

hand at her shoulder.“Rachel, I swear to you,nothing happened. We weredrunk. Really drunk. So farover the limit we werebreathingfire.HonesttoGod,IhadnoideaIwasn’tgettingintomyownbed.Wejustfellinto his and slept. That’s it.Nothingelse.”

Her eyes closed and herchin tipped down. “I believeyou.”

I took a huge refreshingbreath, letting out days ofheartache and guilt. “ThankGod.Masonhasbeen so lostwithout you. Thinking he’dnevergetyouback.”

“It doesn’t mean we’remeant to be together, Mia.Like I said, seeing him withyou opened my eyes. He’snot meant to be with someprofessional career woman.He’s meant to be with

someone whose fun- loving,cangotohisbaseballgames,fly around the country withhim,andbetherebyhisside.I won’t be able to do thatmuch.”

“You can’t be serious.What about all those jobs?You’re with his PR firm.You’re his go-to for all thesponsors and stuff. He needsyou close more often thannot.”

Her head tilted to theside.“Thereisthat…”

Thehairsonthebackofmy neck tingled. I wasgetting to her. “And who’sgoing to prevent him frommaking an ass of himself atthosemeetings?Yousawhimin there. He’s so green it’sridiculous. They’d takeadvantage of him in secondsifyouweren’tthere.Theonlyreason he’s dialed in is

becauseofyou.Nowthatthedeals are coming left andright, and they’re going tokeep coming, he’s going toneedapublicistthatcanworkforonlyhim.I’mcertainofit.Thatpersonisyou.He’donlytrustyou.”

She pushed her hair outofhereyesandhershouldersstraightened. “You’re right.He would have been taken.He’s toogivingandcarefree.

Even if he he’s not in it forthe money, completely—Iknow he loves the sport—they were trying to lowballhim.”

“Exactly.Andyouknewthat.You,Rachel.” I pointedather chest. “You’re theoneforhim.”

Her eyes glowed withwhatcouldonlybedescribedas a renewed sense of self-

worth. “We have to get tohim!”shesaid.

The two of us hustledoutsidethebar.“Brayden,I’llcall you when I find outwhat’s going on.” He did acool chin lift move thatsilently said, sure thing orsomething equally macho.“Charge Mason for thedrinks.”

“Got it on his tab

already,” he grinned. “Plusthis one,” he lifted up a beerandputittohislipsandtooka longpull. I shookmyheadandheadedoutthedoor.

***

The hospital was amadhouse when we arrived.Apparently, a big rig jack-knifed on the freeway andended up causing a fourteen-

carpileup.Therewerepeopleeverywhereholdingbandagestotheirheads,arms,andlegs.I cringed and hit the infodesk.

“I’m Mia Saunders,we’re here to see MasonMurphy.”

The woman looked uphis name in the computer.“He’s been moved to atemporary room. Level two

room130.”

“Thank you.” Racheland I hit the elevator andwaited and waited. “Fuckthis,” I said and instead wetookthestairs.Twoflightsupandwewereonleveltwoandsearchingforhisroom.

When we found it, weboth slowed down. I heldRachel’s hands and for amoment,wewere connected.

Connected in the way thatsisters do or best friends,sharing comfort, and sendinghealing energy to oneanother. After a couple slowbreaths, we turned andopened the door. I enteredfirst, Rachel trailing quietlybehind.

Mason was in the bed,his eyes closed. The lightswerelowandhisDadsatinachairinthecorner.

“Mia, sweet girl, theyfinally got in touch withyou.” Mick said and huggedme.Ikeptmyarmaroundhisshoulders as Rachel stoodnearMason’sbed.

His eyes opened and helickedhissplitlip.Therewasa row of stitches, no morethan five or six, whichstretchedacrosshis forehead.He had a series of cuts andscrapesalonghisarms,but it

didn’tseemlikeanythingelsewasbrokenordamaged.

“Rachel…” His handreachedoutandsheclaspeditwithbothofhers.Thosetearsshe had in check on the carride over were renewed andsliding down her cheeks,drippingontoMace’shandasshe held it near her face.“Baby, I’m okay. You, I’mworriedaboutyou…”

“Uh,IthinkI’mmissingsomething,”Mickclearedhisthroat and heldme tighter asifhewasprotectingme.Sucha good man. Concerned forhisson,andhisson’spretendgirlfriend.

IheldMickinreturnandshookmyhead.“It’sokay,”Iwhispered.

RachellookedatMick,afrightenedscaredlittlemouse

type expression scrolled overher features.Masonwouldn’thave it. “Hey, pretty girl.Look at me. I’m sorry,nothing happened. I swear,”he said close to the samewords that I said to herearlier.“Itnevercould.Ionlywantyou.You’reitforme.”

“Don’t speak, you needto rest,” her voicewas raspyas if she’d chain-smoked apackofCamelnon-filters.

He shook his head thenwinced. Her hand came upandcaressedthesidewithoutdamage. From what I couldsee, his head must have hitthe window, which split itopen.Theglasswasprobablythe reason why he waslittered with tiny cuts andscrapes.

“I don’t need to rest. Ineed the woman I love tolistentome!”Hegrowledand

both his Dad and I stayedvery still and very quietwatching the entire thingunfold. For me, it wasbeautiful. For his Dad,confusing.

“Mason…” she lost herabilitytospeak.

He pulled her hand tohim which brought her bodycloser. “That’s right. I loveyou. I have since that first

night. I’d never, never fuckthat up. Not in the way youthink. What happened withMiaandIwas innocent!”hisvoiceroseandsheplacedtwofingersoverhislips.

“Mia already told me.AndIbelieveyou.I’msorryIeverdoubtedyou.”

“You had your reasons.But baby, after that wrecktoday, it could have been so

much worse and not havingyou bymy side right now. Ican’t even think it…” hisvoice turned thick withemotion. “I need you.Always.Bymyside.”

Rachel’s big blue eyeswereglassyandsoft,focusedonly on the man in front ofher. “Then I’ll be there.Whatever you need. BecauseIloveyou,too.”

I wanted to shout fromtherooftopsandjumpforjoy,but insteadhadtosettleforagiantgrin.

“Son…” Mick said,cominguptotheothersideofthe bed. “You’ve got someexplainingtodo.”Heofferedsomewhatjovially.

“Dad, this is Rachel.She’s gonna bemy full timepublicist, if she’ll take the

job.” She nodded grinningwide. “And on top of that,she’s my girlfriend.My realgirlfriend.”

Shesmiledsobrightly,itlit thedark roomup just likeithadfromthemomentImether. “Hi, Mr. Murphy. I’mRachel Denton and I’m inlovewithyourson.”

Mick looked fromRachel,tohisson,thentome.

He hooked a thumb towardme standing behind them.“Andwhatabouther?”

“She’s an escort.”Masonrespondedsimply.

I wanted to smash myhead into thewall.His dad’seyes got so wide you couldsee straight through to hisbrain.

“Oh, no, no. Not likethat!”Racheltried.

“Dad, no, we hired hertohelpmyimage.Ineededagirlfriend and at the time,Rachel and I hadn’t gottentogether. It was Mia whoencouraged us, actually.”Nowthatwastrue.

“Sorryfornottellingthewhole truth,Mick,but itwaspart of my role. Can youforgive me?” I batted myeyelashes in away I thoughtlookedprettypitiful.

“Us?”Masonaddedwithhisownpuppydoglook.

Mick grumbled thenslapped a hand at Mason’sshoulder. Supporting his son.Always supportive. “Son, ifthis pretty lady is your girlandyouloveherlikeyousay,then I’m sure I’ll love her,too. But you lie tome againand I’ll tan your hide evenworse than that car accidentdid.Youhear?”

Atthat,bothRachelandI laughed. Mason scowled.“Yeah,Dad.Iheardya.”

***

It was early. The sunhadn’t yet broke on thehorizon as I zipped up mysuitcaseandsilentlycarrieditdown the stairs. Mason andRachel were asleep in themaster bedroom. After the

doctors cleared Mason, wecame back to the house andhis father puttered aroundmakingalatedinner.Claimedthat you needed to feed acold.Ofcourse,Masondidn’thave a cold; hewas in a caraccident, but none of usthoughtitprudenttomakethedistinction.IhadafeelinghisDad needed to do somethingto help,mostly just to spendsome time making sure hissonwasokay.

Once dinner was done,each one of his brothersstopped by. Shaun with hisnewest girlfriend. Not thesame one he’d showedme apictureoflasttimewewereatdinner, but teens were ficklelikethat.Hell,Iwaslikethat.Hopping from man to maneach month, not knowingwhere I’d be and when. Hisbrothers stayed long enoughtoribhimabouttheaccident,about having two girlfriends,

which made Rachelextremelyuncomfortable,notyetusedtotheattentionfromtheMurphy clan, but I kneweventually she’d fit right in.Elliehadalottodowiththat.With thewayRachel looked,Ellie believe Rachel was aPrincess and not for pretend.JustliketheirmotherEleanor,Rachel was elegant, had aregal look about her, spokesoftly, and was a classicbeauty. I had a feeling these

two would make it for thelong haul and hoped evenwith everything that hadhappened toward the end ofmy stay, they’dbewilling tokeep the lines ofcommunicationopen.

I walked through thedark house, made somecoffee,andsippedat itwhilelooking out the window.Mytime with Mason had beeninteresting to say the least. I

had an amazing timewatchinghisgamesfrontandcenter, meeting the players,getting to know the life of aWAG, but more than that, Isaw the inner workings of ateam. Men who supportedoneanotherthroughitallandplayedballlikeafinelytunedinstrument: each player nomoreimportantthanthenext,and utterly beautiful as awhole. I was even more inlove with the Red Sox team

thanIhadbeenbeforeIgottoBoston and I was a diehardfanthen.

I’d miss the wives andgirlfriends that I’d met aswell. They had their ownlittle clique and I verymuchenjoyed being a part of theirgirlclubforthemonth.Sarah,Morgan,and,ofcourse, littleKris would not easily beforgotten. They were finewomen who supported their

guys one hundred percent.Silently, I sentgoodwill andloveouttothem.

More than anythingthough, I’dwatchedacouplefall in love.Twopeoplewhodidn’tbelievetheywererightforoneanotherfoundthattheonly thing that didn’t workfor themwas being apart. Inthe end, Rachel and Masoncomplemented one another.Theywere theirownyinand

yang.

I couldn’t be happierthat Mason had lost hispiggishways.Overall,Ithinkmaybe they were his way ofputting up a wall. One thatwould deflect good women,perhaps because he didn’tfeel worthy or good enoughfor a high caliber lady.Oncehe made those life changes,started living for himself,finding who he was in the

grand scheme of things, itwaseasierforhimtoseethathe didn’t have to put up afront.Hecouldtakeachanceonbeinghimselfandwhenhedid, it opened up an entireworldofhappiness,namelyinthesweetlittlewomanlayingby his side prepared to takecareofhimineverywaythatmatters: businesswise,physically, mentally andemotionally.

For Rachel, I think ittook almost losingMason torealize thatwho shewas andwhatshehadwasenoughforhim.More than enough. Thewoman she showed to theworldistheexactwomanthatMason fell in love with, theone that I was certain he’dtakedowntheaisleoneday.

Finishing my coffee, Igotoutmystationery.

Mason,

Something you don’tknowaboutmeisthatIdon’tlikegoodbyes.They’remessyand uncomfortable, which iswhy I’m leaving you whileyou are sound asleep in thearmsof thewomanyou love.The woman you were meanttolove.

I’m honored that youchoseme to be your pretend

girlfriend.IhadmorefunthismonththanI’vehadinyears.And I learned a few things.I’mgoingtotakewithmetheknowledge that you shouldalways put your best selfforward and be open to theopportunitiesrightinfrontofyou. Taking chances towardfinding your specialhappiness is important, andfartoooftenpeoplegetstuckin the daily grind, or thinkthat the life they are living

justcan’tgetanybetter,evenwhen they know they aren’thappy. You chose happinessandthatcameintheformofasweet, beautiful blonde. Doright by her. She’s takingrisks of her own by givingherselftoyoucompletely.

Rachel,

Take care of him. Heneeds a strong woman whowon’tputupwithhis crap. I

knowyou’rethatwoman.

I’ll miss you both andthinkofyouoften.Thankyouforshowingmehowlifecouldbe if I’d only choosehappiness.Oneday,I’msureIwillfindwhatI’mmeantto,andwhenIdo,andthetimeisright,I’llneverletitgo.

Don’t ever let oneanothergo.

Allmylove,

~Mia

I left the note on thekitchen counter, rolled mysuitcase out the door anddown the stairs, where Imetthetaxi.

“Logan InternationalAirportplease.”

The city flew by as thesun started to slide up overthehorizonlightingtheskyinsofthuesofblueandgold. It

had been a good month.Between baseball games,hanging out with Mason,Rachel and the rest of thecrew, I’d had a blast. I alsohadtheopportunitytogetmyfeetwetinplanningacharityevent. One that was beyondsuccessful and would help alot of women get the helpthey needed to fight breastcancer. Overall, I’d rate thismonthasoneofmanythatI’dneverforget.

The cabbie dropped meoff at the airport, I checkedinto arrivals, went throughsecurity, and then found aStarbucks to sit at and havemore coffee and a slice oflemonbread.SomethingkeptnaggingatmeandthemoreItried to push it away, themore the annoying thoughtscreptupandproddedme.

I pulled out my phoneand my heart stuttered to a

halt. A text from Wes. Wehadn’t spokensince I’dhungup on him over two weeksago.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningStillfriends?ForalongtimeIthought

about those words. Stillfriends. Were Wes and Ifriends? Lovers, yes.Friends…before finding out

that he was sleeping withGina, Iwould have said yes.Definitely. Friends withbenefits,absolutely.IthoughtaboutGin andwhatmade usfriends. Trust. History.Commonalities. Butultimately, it came down towhatwouldmylifebelikeifshe wasn’t in it. And thatanswer is horrible. I’d feellostwithouttheanchorofherfriendship. Did I have thatwithWes?

The answerunequivocallywasyes.YesIdid.IknewforafactthatifIcalledWesrightnowandtoldhim I needed him, he’d dropeverything, get on a plane,andbethereforme.SameasHectororTony,orevenAlecwould. Definitely Mason.Because they were myfriends. People I shared aportion of my life with thatmade an impression on mysoul. They are now a foot

printonthepathinmylife.

With quick fingers Itypedback.

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersYes.Wewill always be

friends. I can’t imagine mylifewithoutyouinit.

I walked through theairport, picked out amagazine and then waited at

the gate before my phonedinged with an incomingmessage.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningI feel the same. Is there

still room formoreorhave Ilostyou?

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersYou could never lose

me.For nowwegoour own

way.To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningStickwiththeplan?

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersYes.

To:MiaSaundersFrom:WesChanningWhen I can see you

again?

To:WesChanningFrom:MiaSaundersThe next time you’re

meanttoseeme.

With that last text, Iturned off my phone andboarded the plane to Vegas.Aquickcoupledayswithmysister and best friend wouldbe exactly what I needed togetme ready for amonth inHawaii. I could hardly wait.

Sun, surf, and suntan lotion.Bringontheheat.

Mia’s journey continues inMay(CalendarGirl).

Excerpt from May:Calendar Girl (Book5)

Black tribal tattoos.Drool worthy, thick, cordedmuscles wrapped in intricateweavingdesigns,cascadedallovertanned,toned,maleskin.From the top of his leftshoulder, down his bulgingbicep,overhisribcage,waist,

dipped into the sarong thatcoveredhismaleessenceandbeyond. The black ropes ofink scaleddown froma tree-trunk sized thigh, along tightcarved out calves, to stopbluntly at the ankle. I couldbarely feel the sand burningthesolesofmyfeetasIstoodthere in awe of themagnificent creature beforeme. He turned sidewaysgivingmealick-ableviewofa strong well-formed back,

one that could easily lift meand two friends, and toss useasily into the ocean justbeyond where he stood. Acamera clicked repeatedlyandthenhelookedatme.No,hedidn’tlookatme.Hiseyessoughtmine across the thirtyfoot expanse between us.Brown eyes, the color of thedeepest, darkest cocoa beansizzled as they took in everyounceofmyform.

The stranger’s gaze slidovermelikeaburningcaress,so heated I fanned my facetrying to remove the searingfeeling that encapsulated myskin. An Italian accentedvoice called out somecommands and finally Mr.Tattoolookedaway,releasingthe hold he had over me. Iwas freed, but felt and oddnigglingsenseoflossinstead.The way this man looked atmewasacalling,abeaconof

desireneedlingatmypsyche.One I was all too familiarwithasthespacebetweenmythighsswelledandsoftened.Istoodandwatchedasthemanbehind the camera took adozen more photos thenabruptly made a slashinggesturewithhishand.

“Finito!” he said thenfollowed it up with a,“Perfetto.”

Ripping my eyes awayfrom the overly deliciousmale, I watched as thephotographer twisted around,hisfaceturnedtowardme.Hehadonawovenbrownfedorastyle sun hat, cargo shorts, awhitelinenshirtthatwasheldtogether by a single buttonthat did nothing to hide thesveltebodyunderneathit.Hesmiledwideandtrudgedoverto me, sand kicking up witheachstep.Ashecamecloser,

Icouldseeasoftsmile,whiteteeth, and small wrinkles atthe edges of his eyes kindblue eyes and more aroundhismouth.Itwasahandsomeface that showed he’d agedwell, his salt andpepperhairspiking out from under thehat.

“Bella donna,” he saidgrasping my shoulders,leaning forward and airkissing both cheeks. “I am

AngelD’Amico,andyouaremore beautiful than Ianticipated when my wifesaid we must have you forourcampaign.”

At the mention of hiswife, a statuesque Latinaexitedawhitetent,herbrownskin glimmering in thesunlight. A fiery red sarongstyle halter dress wrappedaround her curvaceous formandflappedinthebreeze.Her

dark hair was long andwhisked out as if she had apersonal fanblowingdirectlyon her to accentuate herfeatures. Talk about beauty.Thiswomanhad loads of it.Angel clapped his hands asthe woman headed our way.“Ah, my wife. Takes awaybreath, yes?” He asked me,andInoddedbecauseshedidstealmybreath, shewas thatstunning.

Ahugesmilesplitacrossthewoman’s lips. “Mia, it isso lovely tohaveyouaspartof our project.” She, too,leanedforwardandairkissedbothsidesofmycheeks.Nowthatshewasclose,youcouldsee she had also been kissedby age, but it did not takeaway from her beauty. AuntMillie told me that thedesigner and his wife werearoundfifty.Thesetwocouldeasilypassforearlyforties.“I

am Rosa, Angel’s wife. Weareexcitedtohaveyouhere.”

I tuggedmy bag upmyshoulder andpushedmyhairoff my head. “I’m happy tobe here. The island, well,what I’ve seen of it comingfromtheairport,isbeautiful.”

“It is. You can take thenext couple days gettingacquainted with it. We justshot Tai and will plan to do

singlesofyou.”Angellookedover his shoulder as Mr.Tattoo pounded a bottle ofwater and grabbed a shirtfrom someone that lookedlike an assistant. “Tai, come,meet your partner for themonth.”

Partner? Millie didn’tsay anything about having apartner.JustasIwasabouttoquestion his comment themantheycalled“Tai”moved

to meet us. When I saymoved,reallytheentireEarthmightaswellhavesplitopenand separated carving out apath for him. All soundseemed to disappear and theentire environment zeroed inon nothing but this man’sprogression across the sand.He was breathtaking. Themuscles in his giant thighspulsed and tensed with eachstep. A fine layer ofabdominal squares rippled,

the skin indenting aroundeach shape with hismovements. His chest shonelikeanopal,smooth,swirlingwith colors. Then again thatcould be the heat and myvision ebbing around hisshape.

When he reached thesmallhuddlewecreatedwithour threebodies, theadditionof his giant frame had mealmoststeppingbackbecause

nowthespaceseemedfartoosmall.Hell,thebeachwasfartoosmallwhenyouhadsuchanimal magnetism and maleperfectionstandingonit.Theoceanprobablycrieditssaltytears wishing he’d grace it’ssilky depths with hispresence.

Angel stretched out ahand in front of me. “TaiNiko, meet Mia Saunders.She’s going to be staying in

the bungalow next to yoursand doing all the coupleshoots with you this month.We’re presenting you as thetropicscoupleforthe“BeautyComes in All Sizes”campaign.”

Tai’sbrowneyes lockedonto mine. He licked hisplumpbottom lip seductivelythenmadeasoundas thoughhe were kissing his teethbeforethosefatpiecesofpink

flesh pursed. I did my bestnottoswoonbuttheheatthatgenerated off this manpumped so hot around me itwas like a wall of fire. Hesucked in a slow breath, hisnostrils flaring as his eyesswept all over my body. Ididn’tsayanything.Couldn’teven move or breathe underhisscrutiny.“She’s radiant. Iwill enjoy working you,” hesaid, but his eyes said farmore than “working” with

me.Wait…what?

“You mean workingwithme?” I clarified shakingmyhead.

Once more his headtilted down and his gazestarted at my feet. In thatmomentIjustrealizedhewaslacking hair, as in all of hishair. He had a scruff on hisdome, much like the way“The Rock” kept his lack of

locks. Looking him over, hevery much resembled theactor“TheRock.”Huge,lattecolored skin darkened evenmore by the suns tropicalrays, tattooed, only Taiseemedfarmoretraditionalinhis Samoan features andheritage.

Tai pursed his sexy lipstogether and smirked. “No,that’s not at all what Imeant.”

Damn. This month wasgoing to be one helluva ride.Hopefully that ride includedbeing on top or under a sixfoot Samoan godlike mannamedTai.

Purchase May Calendar Girl(Book5)today!

Books and ComingSoon by AudreyCarlanTheFallingSeriesAngelFallingLondonFallingJusticeFallingTrinityTrilogyBody(Book1)Mind(Book2)Soul(Book3)

CalendarGirlSerial(A twelvemonth serial.Newinstallments will be releasedevery month throughout2015)January(Book1)February(Book2)March(Book3)April(Book4)May (Book 5 - EstimatedRelease5/2015)June (Book 6 - Estimated

Release6/2015)July (Book 7 - EstimatedRelease7/2015)August (Book 8 - EstimatedRelease8/2015)September (Book 9 -EstimatedRelease9/2015)October(Book10-EstimatedRelease10/2015)November (Book 11 -EstimatedRelease11/2015)December (Book 12 -EstimatedRelease12/2015)

The Indulgence Box Set -(EstimatedRelease6/2015)“A million words ofromance” box set that hassomething for everyone.Fifteen best-selling authorswithfifteenfulllengthnovelsall compiled together to giveevery romance readersomething they are lookingfor.

Acknowledgements

To my critique partner,SarahSaunders,youmakeiteasiertodowhatIdo.Havingsomeone who just gets me,gets my characters andunderstands the complexitiesof my process is such anincredible gift. I can’timaginehowotherauthorsdoit without someone like youto bounce things off of, vent

toor justbitch-slap themusewhen she gets fickle. Thankyouforalwaysbeingthereforme.

TomyeditorEkatarinaSayanova with Red QuillEditing, LLC, I am beyondhappy that I found you. It’shardtofindaneditorthatjustsuits you. You suit me. RedQuill Editing, LLC ispresently accepting newclients.

(www.redquillediting.net)

TomypersonalassistantHeather White, I am soexcited about this journeywe’re going to take together.Thank you for choosing me!Loveyougirl.

Any author knows theyaren’t worth their weightunlesstheirstoryisbackedbybadassbetas.Ihavethebest!

Jeananna Goodall - Ilove the way you experiencemystories.Theemails, texts,and feedback I get from youalways makes me happy.Every time I see your namepop up in one ofmy feeds Iamelated.You’re sogoodatsharing your thoughts andemotions about the readingexperienceanditsoothesme,making me believe that themassesmightjustlikeittoo!

Ginelle Blanch - Justwhen I think I found everyscrew up of your and you’reand than and then you proveme wrong. You are such agoddessatfindingmyquirkyerrors. However, I shouldnote I am learning…thereweren’tnearlyasmany!Suredo count on you honey andyou never let me down.Thank you for being you.Because you’re pretty damngreat!

Anita Shofner - Youwill rid the world of badtensesandcommaerrorsonebook at a time. For this, Ihavenodoubt! I’vegivenuptrying to be good withcommas.Ifigurethat’swhyIhave editors and awesomebetas!YouAnitahaveagift.Thankyouforsharingitwithmeandmakingmyworkjustthatmuchbetter!

Christine Benoit - Oh

my lovelyCanadianAngel. IambeyondthrilledthatIhavean expert to go to for myFrench. As my Editor Sayawould say, you cannot counton Google Translate. Youhave definitely proven that!Thank you for being a vitalresource in making sure myAlec Dubois’s languagecomes out as beautiful as Iintenditto.Thankyou.

Thank you to the ladies

atGiveMeBooksandKylieMcDermott for spreadingthis book far and wide intothevirtualsocialworld!Theydo amazing release day blitzandareveryaffordable.LookthemuponFacebook.

To the Audrey CarlanStreet Team of wicked hotAngels, together we change

the world. One book at atime. BESOS-4-LIFE lovelyladies.

About AudreyCarlan

Audrey Carlan is a multipletimes Amazon and Kobobestselling author. She livesin the sunny CaliforniaValley two hours away fromthe city, the beach, themountainsandtheprecious…the vineyards. She has beenmarriedtotheloveofherlifeforoveradecadeandhastwo

youngchildrenthatliveuptotheir title of “MonsterMadness” on daily basis.When she’s not writingwickedlyhotromances,doingyoga, or sipping wine withher “soul sisters”, she canbefoundwith her nose stuck inbook or her Kindle. A hot,smutty, romantic book to beexact!

Any and all feedback is

greatly appreciated and feedsthe soul. You can contactAudrey or her personalassistant Heather Whitebelow:

Email:carlan.audrey@gmail.com

Personal Assistant:audrey.carlanpa@gmail.com

Facebook:www.facebook.com/AuthorAudreyCarlan

Website:www.audreycarlan.com

Twitter:@AudreyCarlan

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7831156.Audrey_Carlan

TableofContents

DedicationChapter1Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6Chapter7Chapter8

Chapter9Chapter10Excerpt fromMay: Calendar

Girl(Book5)Books and Coming Soon by

AudreyCarlanAcknowledgementsAboutAudreyCarlan